


What if all of Paris forgets?

by Bluestpaw



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Especially not Adrien, F/M, Fluff, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Identity Reveal, Ladybug is gone, Lost Miraculous (Miraculous Ladybug), Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, No one is having a good time, Not Canon Compliant, Original Akuma, Paris is on fire, Pre Episode Dark Owl, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Slow Burn, Supportive Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), also, eventually, far away future, in the far, marinette doesn't know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 58,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25898275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluestpaw/pseuds/Bluestpaw
Summary: Paris is safe. Paris is great. But don't stay out too late, or else Chat Noir might get to you. And make sure, should you ever find this mysterious "Ladybug" he's desperately calling for, to report her to the police.Waking up with a headache and not enough memories of the the previous day, Adrien finds himself in a city ruled by a crazed Akuma. With no trace of Ladybug and a Paris that hates him, Chat Noir has to find a way to deafet this newest villain - and hopefully find his Lady again in the process.Adrinette/MarichatFormer title: Remember. Please Remember
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 24
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien awoke feeling groggy. His head was pounding, he could barely open his eyes and something felt...amiss. As if he didn't know where he was, which was weird because he knew exactly where he was. In his room, laying in his bed, trying to ignore the smell of Plagg's cheese. Nothing unusual, except for the pounding in Adrien's head.
> 
> -
> 
> "Tardiness is a crime, sweetheart! And you don't want to be late on your first day of work!" One could hear the proud smile accompanying her mother's last words and Marinette smiled in accordance, happy to know her parents were as excited about the internship…
> 
> The internship!

**What if all of Paris forgets?**   
**Chapter One**

**.o.O.o.**

_Eyes fluttered open. Blankets were shoved aside. A smile stretched on lips. Today was going to be amazing._

_It was obvious from the very first sun rays that Adrien missed because his early photo shoot had been cancelled. It was obvious from the fact that for once the breakfast table was set for two people instead of one. It was obvious because his afternoon photo shoot, too, had been cancelled and he was allowed to meet Nino, Alya and Marinette at the arcade today._

_It was truly amazing, a miracle almost. The weather was great, not a cloud was in sight and everything seemed to scream that today was going to be the most wonderful day of the year._

**.o.O.o.**

Adrien awoke feeling groggy. His head was pounding, he could barely open his eyes and something felt...amiss. As if he didn't know where he was, which was weird because he knew _exactly_ where he was. In his room, laying in his bed, trying to ignore the smell of Plagg's cheese. Nothing unusual, except for the pounding in Adrien's head.

Immobile, he stayed in bed trying to recall what had happened. What could have caused this momentary confusion? Had a late night patrol kept him awake for too long? Had there been any unusually exhausting photo shoots? But Adrien didn't remember anything that could have caused this amount of exhaustion. In fact, he was pretty positive that yesterday had been amazing. He remembered being able to sleep in, having breakfast with his father, getting to school, talking to Nino, making plans for the afternoon and…. blank. Everything after that was a big, fat, blank spot. Well, memory loss might explain why he felt so uneasy.

"Plagg", Adrien whispered, not feeling ready to get up just yet. He glanced to the side of his bed, watching the black Kwami devour a piece of camenbert, seemingly unaware of his chosen's call. "Plagg!", Adrien tried again, this time louder. He regretted his choice not a second later when he winced – a clear indicator his head was not willing to let go of the silence just yet. Adrien tried to ignore the pounding though, instead focussing on trying to quell his curiosity – and his worry. Something was wrong and Adrien couldn't shake the feeling that it was probably Akuma related.

"Plagg!"

"What?", a nasally voice finally answered. The black Kwami lazily floated towards Adrien, eyeing his chosen suspiciously, though, if one squinted hard enough, one could make out a flicker of concern in the god's eyes.

"What happened yesterday?", Adrien asked, his voice hoarse. Shifting slightly and trying to ignore the pain he looked around for a glass of water, hissing when he didn't find one.

"I don't know."

Plagg yawned, stretching his limbs before looking at his chosen once more who was about to pounce and strangle that annoying bastard.

"You went to school. Talked to that one "dude" guy. Had a nice chat with your girlfriend..." "Marinette is not my girlfriend!" "...You didn't feed me enough cheese. The usual. Oh, yeah, and there was this one Akuma, what was his name again? I don't know. Anyway, all I remember is transforming you – after my protest because I was in the middle of eating cheese! - and next thing I know is that we woke up in some alley because I couldn't hold the transformation any longer. Talking of which, I demand more cheese, that was way too exhausting..."

With those final words, Plagg let himself dramatically fall onto the bed sheets, completely ignoring Adrien's exasperated sigh. "Plagg, you just ate cheese! And what do you know about the Akuma?!", he hissed, slowly, sitting up, holding onto his head. They had to get this conversation done quickly, Nathalie could call him anytime now and he'd rather get all the information he needed before he got a break away from everyone during school.

His Kwami had other plans though.

"Can't…too…exhausted…Need more cheese...", he winced, eyes closed, though they were flickering. Great. Just great. Ladybug may be in danger and Plagg was being his usual self.

"Plagg, come one! We don't have time for this!" Adrien shoved his bedsheets aside, ignoring the muffled protests of the floating cat once it got buried beneath the heap of fabric. The motion didn't stop him from being over-dramatic though.

"Not...enough...had...to hold...transformation...for...too long..."

Adrien hissed once more after he dipped his feet out of bed and noted that the floor was too cold for his liking. He painfully dragged himself to his closet, snatching some clothes from it, not really paying attention to what exactly he was going to wear.

"You can have another wheel if you tell me what went on yesterday!", Adrien finally gave in and not a second later Plagg had freed himself from the blankets, deciding to now triumphantly follow his charge and to grin smugly.

"Ah, my energy resources have been replenished..." "Get to it!" Adrien wasn't in the mood for games. His head was still pounding and his throat still felt too dry – he really needed a shower and a glass of water.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Mr. I'm-in-a-sore-mood."

Plagg shook his head, while his eyes trailed off to the mini fridge that held all the delicacy in the universe.

"So, during that "it's-not-a-date talk..." "Plagg..." "...you had with your "not-a-girlfriend" the Akuma alert went off. You got up, she got up, you both disappeared and next thing I know I'm sucked into your ring and you go off to do your hero-work."

Expectantly, the cat watched him, obviously waiting for his promised cheese but Adrien wasn't having any of it. Not yet. That information hadn't been helpful at all, which was to be expected, if he was honest. He should have probably just consulted the ladyblog – he was sure Alya had at least gotten an idea of the Akuma's abilities and goals.

Plagg wasn't done yet though.

"Oh, and once I got out again, you were laying in a dirty alley out cold. I think some passer-by found you and wanted to get you to the hospital, but Nathalie intercepted them, god knows how. Your dad won't be amused with that bruise on your head, by the way." Adrien's head snapped up and he stared at Plagg for a reason, before scrambling scrambled into his bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror, trying to ignore Plagg's snickering.

A glimpse in the mirror revealed what Adrien had expected: He looked terrible. Absolutely terrible. His face was unnaturally white, dark circles adorned his eyes and the above mentioned bruise, that was going to sent his father into cardiac arrest, was featured prominently on his forehead. Great. If Nathalie hadn't already snitched on him, this surely was going to get his father's attention. This was a disaster. His father was going to kill him.

He had already known yesterday that something bad was going to happen. There had been just too many happy coincidences. All Adrien could do now was hope that his father wouldn't pull him out of school for it.

**.o.O.o.**

Paris is great. And Paris is safe. Those were the first thoughts that came to Marinette's mind once her alarm clock rang, waking her for the day to come. And while it reminded her of that perfectly fine, it failed to make her open her eyes.

Marinette knew that she had to get up, that she had to get ready - she just really didn't want to. Just five more minutes…

She expected to be scolded for her bad morning habits the moment she turned to rest on her other side, awaited the sound of a honey-like voice telling her off in good humour, reminding her that she didn't want to be late for school again. That she had already gotten two tardiness slips this month alone. The anticipation made her unable to truly rest (which begged the question – why was she trying in the first place?) and an unsatisfied frown spread across Marinette's features. It was a weird notion, she thought, because, really, who would that voice even belong too? She didn't even go to school anymore either!

Chuckling, Marinette turned around and closed her eyes once more, expecting sleep to claim her now that she was less tense, but she didn't get that far. Instead of a sweet voice (just who was she thinking about?) it was her mother who called her, worry evident in her voice:"Tardiness is a crime, sweetheart! And you don't want to be late on your first day of work!" One could hear the proud smile accompanying her mother's last words and Marinette smiled in accordance, happy to know her parents were as excited about the internship…

The internship!

Marinette shot up from her bed sheets, panicking and secretly scolding herself for wasting precious ten? Ten! minutes on something as ridiculous as sleep!

Of course! She didn't go to school anymore!

Marinette practically fell out of bed as she scrambled to get her clothes – her trademark pink jeans, white t-shirt and grey blazer – while simultaneously trying to put her hair into her equally trademark twin tails, before deciding against it. Maybe the look was a bit too childish for the occasion. She wanted to come across as mature after all.

Five minutes later and she was already applying make-up – some light mascara – and then she snatched her favourite purse, ready to face this new challenge that awaited her. For a moment Marinette took the time to look at her phone and smiled upon seeing the encouraging notes her friends had sent her just yesterday, after having receiving the letter.

> " _I call shots on the first interview once you're a successful designer!"_
> 
> " _If you ever need some good music to relax too, just tell me, dude, I'll gladly provide it!"_
> 
> " _Make sure to be on time! The Controller said tardiness is bad and Gabriel's is farther away from your home than school is! Kisses, Rose!"_
> 
> " _Could you design something black? That would be cool."_
> 
> " _There is an 83% chance that you'll get offered a job after the internship, calculating the circumstances under which this internship was handed to you, your history with the company and your talent."_

It was great to see her friends this excited about her internship, though it didn't necessarily help Marinette's nerves to calm down (she had the urge to squeal, but she didn't want to disturb the neighbours). However, knowing their reaction did calm her persistent doubts about the whole ordeal. After all, it was almost too perfect to be true! But she had already pinched herself three times after reading the letter yesterday (signed by Gabriel Agreste himself!) and had even resorted to look up signs that she was in a dream.

She wasn't.

This was going to happen.

She...was going to intern at Gabriel's. She was going to work under her idol. She was one step closer to making all her dreams come true!

It was still a miracle in Marinette's eyes and her happy squealing (she _tried_ to be quiet) was probably the reason why she tripped on the stairs, dropping her purse in the process that tumbled down the entirety of it.

Once she had snatched it from the floor (strange – why had she kept _cookies_ in her purse?) - she was greeted with laughter and her parent's smiling faces, gesturing for her to sit down with them. The TV was on in the background, yesterday's public service announcement was playing. The Controller proudly stood next to Major Bourgois, announcing the new rules that would keep Paris safe from any sort of self-pronounced "vigilante heroes" as well as ensure that society would be running smoothly.

They couldn't have anything not go according to plan after all.

"Are you fine, sweetie? I hope you didn't hurt yourself...", Marinette's mother asked, casting her eyes away from the TV and smiling at her daughter. Tom and Sabine had gotten up extra early to prepare an amazing breakfast just for today, hoping their daughter would get up in time to grab more than just one croissant.

"Lets hope Mr. Agreste will fall for your design as quickly as you fall down the stairs!", her father chuckled, before gesturing for her to sit down. Marinette smiled brightly and snatched a cookie, enjoying the sweetness.

"Are you excited? Do you already know what you'll do today?" "Oh, oh, yes! I-I will be shown around the building and stuff! A first introduction sort of, not that I expected anything else, after all I'm just an intern and this _is_ my first day, but besides that I was told to bring my sketch book, so maybe they'll have a look at my designs, which would be suuuuper amazing, because imagine, what if they like them and what if I get to work with a _real_ designer and what if this is going to be the very first..."

Marinette took a bite out of her sandwich.

"...chance to get my designs out there, though, don't you think that would be a bit too early? I'm still just a student after all and..."

Her parents chuckled at their daughter's continued rambling which stopped after a good five minutes (in which Marinette had stopped fantasizing about the chances this internship offered to fantasizing about what it would be like to own her very own label at some point – just to then live out the other side of what it would be like if they didn't like her designs and how she would be shunned in the design world for the rest! Of! Her! Life!) and their conversation dissolved into pleasant small-talk. It was helpful to calm Marinette's nerves and to bridge the time until her alarm went off, telling her to get going.

And get going she did. After tripping another two times she finally made it out the front door – just to almost run into one of the new robots patrolling the streets.

She had almost forgotten!

After apologizing to it several times and listening to it admonishing her about being more careful and "no running in the streets" it finally left and Marinette made her way to the next metro station, trying to ignore the piercing gazes of the robots patrolling the street.

After all, they were there for her protection.

**.o.O.o.**

Breakfast was boring. As was to be expected. His father hadn't attended it and worry clouded Adrien's mind, making him unable to enjoy the food – not that there was much too enjoy in the first place.

God, what he wouldn't give for some nice pastries right now. Maybe he could convince Nathalie to let him have lunch with his friends? Scratch that, after the whole waking up unconscious in an alleyway he should count himself lucky if he wasn't grounded for the rest of his life.

A sigh escaped Adrien's lips and he leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment. The shower had relieved some of the pounding in his head and the glass of water had greatly helped to improve his mood, but Adrien knew better. Something was wrong. He had most likely been knocked out during an Akuma fight and now he didn't even remember any of it! He wondered if he could have a sneak peak at whatever Alya had reported before school started, just to get an idea of what was going on. Maybe Ladybug had already defeated the Akuma? She was amazing enough to not need his help to take care of them after all.

Adrien was taking out his phone when the door to the dining area opened and Nathalie came in, her face an impassive wall like always. She hardly looked at him when she asked how he felt and the only glance she spared him was directed at the red bruise that "blemished" his face.

If he was honest, he didn't mind the look all that much.

"It's fine, Nathalie. Nothing too bad. I, uh, I got too close to the Akuma attack and hit my head, but other than that, nothing happened."

He tried his best to fake smile but he knew his father's secretary could look right through the facade and he gave up after a few hopeful seconds. Another sigh.

This was terrible.

This was a disaster.

Luckily, he could just blame it on Plagg's bad luck, so that was that.

For a curious few seconds Nathalie seemed genuinely unsettled by the answer he had given there (was he missing something?) but that emotion was fleeting and back was the mask she wore everyday.

"Very well. We'll call in the doctor for later. Which time is most suitable for you?"

Adrien frowned, taking his time to decide. Well, obviously not during school, so maybe during one of his breaks? He hadn't looked at his schedule yet, so he didn't know if his father had already planned him for anything other than his usual Mandarin lesson.

"Uh...In the afternoon? I'm not sure if there's time, but I'd hate to have the appointment during my lunch break..."

He hadn't given up on his hope of dining out today yet and maybe, if he played along and behaved well, he might be able to slip out with Nino. He almost expected Nathalie to say something about it, to crush his hopes, but she didn't.

Well, she didn't do it the way he had expected.

"Lunchbreak? What do you mean?"

Again, there was this look of almost _terror_ , but again, it was gone before Adrien could get a good look at it. It was enough to unsettle him though. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Had Plagg skipped some important detail?

"Uh, I mean, today is Friday, right? I have school?"

Had he slept an entire day?! Please don't tell him that he had slept _an entire day_. His father would be furious!

The way Nathalie hesitated before answering roused Adrien's suspicions, but he didn't dare act on them. It would probably just make everything worse. And it was bad, because next thing Adrien knew was that Nathalie _stammered_.

"Sch-sch-school?"

Nathalie never stammered. Nathalie was the perfect picture of composure, the most one could get out of her was a frown or a small smile. What had gotten her into su...no.

No!

Adrien's eyes shot open and he felt himself starting to panic. No. Had- had his father...already? Would he...He wouldn't take him out of school just like that, right? Right?! Not even...well, yes, his father _would_ do that, but not without a warning, right? Right? Not just because of a simple bruise, right? Well, he _had_ been found in a deserted alley, but his father _knew_ how important this was to him and he wouldn't put him through homeschooling again, not after everything he had done just to be able to attend public schooling, just to be able to m...

"School. Of course", Nathalie's words ripped Adrien from his spiralling thoughts and his head snapped to her, eyes still wide. Of course. School. Of course. So...he hadn't been taken out of public school?

He couldn't help the grin that was spreading on his face.

"Of course you have school!", she reassured him again, though her words lacked any kind of real conviction. Instead she smiled weirdly, before bidding him a good day, informing him she was going to call his bodyguard and then scrambling off. And Adrien was too relieved to think about how weird the whole situation was.

**.o.O.o.**

The ride to school was awkward. The Gorilla seemed to be as surprised as Nathalie had been when Adrien had first brought the topic up, but had simply grunted once before shuffling into the car and chauffeuring Adrien to school, being his usual silent self.

At least something was normal.

They arrived early. In fact, Adrien arrived at school even before Nino did and decided to wait for him on the steps leading up to school, hoping his best friend was holding some answers.

It was weird, waiting on the steps. He got more stares than usual and it felt a bit like the first few weeks of his public schooling – whispering, glances and occasionally people would walk up to him – not all they way, mind you – before deciding against it and leaving him alone.

It was a terrible feeling and it made Adrien panic once more. Did they...did they know? About his alter-ego? What if he had been revealed, it would make sense, but wouldn't his father have talked to him by now?! For sure he would at least have taken his ring – to make sure he didn't out himself in danger yet again. But none of that had happened! He still had his ring – Plagg was prove enough, Was his own _father_ scared of him now?

It was Nino's appearance that ripped Adrien from his thoughts this time.

His friend was listening to music, his trademark cap on his head and his eyes glued to the floor. There was nothing unusual about his appearance – it made Adrien worry a bit less. If his best friend didn't come up running to him, then there was no way that Chat Noir had been exposed. Even if Nino was rather composed – there were limits even to his patience.

A sigh of relief left Adrien's lips before he got up, hastily running up to his friend, calling his name out once. He was about to go in for a hug (they normally didn't great each other like that but right now Adrien just _needed_ a hug) but he was stopped in his tracks by the visible confusion in his best friend's eyes.

"Uh...do I know you?" Nino cocked an eyebrow. Smiled politely. Glanced around.

At first, Adrien didn't react. Smiled tenatively, waiting for Nino to burst out laughing, smacking his shoulder and exclaiming it had just been a joke.

But Nino did no such thing. Instead, his best friend simply stared at him, wonde rin his eyes.

And Adrien recoiled _._

…

This...This was a joke, right?

…

Should he blink and laugh..?

...

M-Maybe his dishevelled appearance was throwing Nino off? Surely it was that, right? Because, he looked terrible right now, absolutely terrible. It had to be that, right? Right?

"Uh, dude, are you...Wait, aren't you that one model dude?"

Nino's eyes lit up in recognition (but not the recognition Adrien _wanted_ to see) and Adrien stumbled back even more, feeling a chill creep into his bones _that he did not want to be there._

"A good friend of mine is a huge fan of your dad, dude! I bet she'd freak out if she'd see you right now…"

Adrien simply stared at Nino, barely processing what he was saying. Yes. He knew Marinette was a fan of his father's work. Yes, he also knew she'd freak out if she were here at the moment. Leave it up to Marinette to be more nervous around a model than around his superhero alter-ego.

But that didn't matter. What mattered was, that Nino should _know_ that he knew that, that Nino should be aware of how much Marinette would freak out. There shouldn't be any questions. None at all. A sob escaped him, barely audible but it was enough.

"Uh, dude? Dude? Dude?!" Adrien snapped back to reality, feeling his cheeks heat up. Great. He had just spaced out. Amazing. And then he had _sobbed_.

"I'm...I'm not really sure what's going on right now...", Nino started, eyes flickering away from him. So much for a good...first impression? Clearly, Nino didn't remember him.

He didn't remember him.

His best friend didn't _remember_ him.

"So, uh, are you going to out school now? Should...should I show you around?" It was an honest question and the mild concern that had sneaked into Nino's voice was assuring. It showed he cared and it helped. Not much. But it helped.

Maybe this was just a dream. Surely, this was just a dream. I mean, this couldn't be happening. It just couldn't! Though it did explain Nathalie's confusion...No! It didn't explain anything!

"I..." Adrien's voice cracked. He nervously rubbed his neck. Looked at anything but his friend. Finally managed to find his voice and keep the tears at bay that were sneaking up on him.

"No. I'm - I'm good. But, uh, thanks for the offer, I just, uh..." What was he going to say? He had just walked up to Nino, had even called out his name. "Uh, I'm just a big fan of your, uh, music?"

Adrien hated that his words sounded like a question, hated that his voice was quivering, hated that he was looking like a total mess, but Nino seemingly didn't notice or didn't care _or_ was too nice to show it, because the teens eyes lit up at his words and a smile spread across his entire face and Adrien _hated_ it, because Nino should _know_ that he liked his music and he shouldn't-shouldn't feel so happy!

"No way, dude! You...You listen to my music?! That's, dude, that's...wow!" Adrien couldn't help but smile at his friend's obvious ecstasy, though it wasn't much and felt fake and _he didn't want to smile_.

"I...Do you want to talk about it? Give some feedback? I, uh, I have this new song I didn't release on Spotify yet, you can already have it if you want, it would mean a lot to me..."

It wasn't often that Adrien got to see his friend all flustered and he would have poked fun at Nino if it weren't for the fact that Adrien wanted to curl up somewhere and cry. As glad as he was that Nino felt honoured that he listened to his music – this wasn't how friends talked to each other. And Adrien knew he had to cut this short. This conversation was getting more and more painful with every passing second.

And keeping himself composed was a task that required too much energy.

"I...I'm sorry, but uh, I don't have much time and, uh..."

Nino's eyes got wide and he stumbled back a bit (he had come closer during his ramblings - Adrien hadn't minded, they were friends after all, but if Nino didn't remember…).

"Dude, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to...Anyway, I've got to go too and I, uh...I better leave you alone now...But if you ever need, like help or so, don't be a stranger!" And with that, Nino sent him an apologetic smile before walking away, towards school, leaving Adrien behind.

And Adrien made his way to a few trees, standing in their shade and waiting. If Nino didn't remember, then he'd simply have to defeat this Akuma as fast as possible.

But first he had to sort the mess out the mess that was his life now, apparently.

**.o.O.o.**

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing! It seemed as if Marinette was incapable of thinking anything other than that throughout the entire day. It was amazing. Scratch that, it was more than just amazing. Today was the best day in her life! Marinette could barely contain her excitement and burst into frantic giggles everytime she thought no one was watching her (they totally were though – and everyone in the office thought her behaviour to be absolutely adorable). But she just couldn't help it! She was learning so much! And the people were so nice! Though, bribing them with fresh pastries had probably helped along a great deal.

Once Marinette had arrived at the imposing office building (she hadn't just been on time, she had actually managed to be _early! -_ despite the extra security that was suddenly enforced everywhere) they had shown her around and with "they" Marinette meant two other interns that had already spent a month or so at Gabriel's. She got a quick tour of the building and they roughly explained what each section did, before she was shoved into the cafeteria and introduced to her future co-workers, who greeted her with bright smiles. The strange situation she had found herself in was talked about only once and while it did raise some eyebrows, no one dared question it any further.

Gabriel Agreste was known to do things his own way and if that meant taking on a new intern in the _middle of the week_ , so be it. If it meant said intern was going to continue her schooling while doing the internship, so be it. Not like they could stop him in the first place.

After the introduction she had been taken away by some designers, had been shown the ropes around the place and then she had promptly been send off to get some coffee. Her first assignment had somewhat dampened Marinette's good mood, until she had been allowed to help do some stitching on a jacket afterwards and had spent the rest of the afternoon listening to her new colleagues talking about the pros and cons of different colour schemes, while trying to balance her schoolwork. It wasn't easy, but it was fun and it was more than what Marinette had ever hoped for.

And then the day already came to an end (too quickly for her taste!). Marinette was one of the last to leave the building and she was frantically packing her stuff – there was a curfew and Marinette didn't want to get on the Controller's bad side.

She hastened down the stairs, yanking the door open and hoping that it wouldn't take too log to get through security. But just before she managed to slip out of the door, a woman called her name and Marinette twirled around, eyes wide. Had she done something wrong, had she broken a rule, she hadn't been a perfect picture of composure throughout the day after all and what if that had angered someone? What if…

The woman that had held her up looked at her curiously, before shaking her head and handing the girl a folder, with clear instructions.

"You are to bring this to the Agreste Mansion. I was told you should bring your sketch book along too. I assume you have it with you at the moment?" Marinette simply nodded, stars shining in her eyes, not trusting her own voice to speak (somehow she felt the woman would be less understanding of her squealing than the one intern that had caught her doing it). Her superior smiled once (it was a fake smile – for some reason Marinette felt as if she _knew_ that sort of smile) and then asked whether she knew where the Agreste mansion was, at which point Marinette felt composed enough to give a (high-pitched) answer and was promptly sent of, the parting words being "Don't linger and make sure to get there before lock down – I was informed that you do not have to worry about getting home on your own late at night."

Seconds later Marinette found herself outside, trying not to raise any suspicions as she hasted to the mansion not too far away.

She was going to see Gabriel Agreste's home! On her first day! And he wanted to see her _sketchbook_!

**.o.O.o.**

Adrien waited for ten minutes tops for the car to pull up once more, having expected to get picked up anytime now.

He was surprised he had been allowed outside in the first place. Maybe his father had forgotten to tell Nathalie about the change in plans? Maybe his persistence had thrown her off?

His father's secretary got out the car the moment it stopped, holding her tablet in front of her, her appearance not fazed in the slightest, her voice as stern as always.

"You're father wants to talk to you."

Well, at least his... _escapade_ (that's what his father would call this, Adrien was sure of it) had gotten him his father's attention. It was something, right?

Adrien sighed and nodded, trying his best to not accidentally look into Nathalie's eyes while sliding into the car. Who knew what secrets they may betray.

The way back was spent in silence. Adrien tried to keep his thoughts at bay by messaging Chloé (he didn't dare to look at Nino's contact information), who had no qualms about texting him in class and promptly started to rant about her day. But listening, well, reading her complaints was better than the worry clouding Adrien's mind so he dutifully read every last of Chloé's texts and answered accordingly.

> " _Ugh, but at least that dumb girl from my class isn't here anymore."_

Annoying girl? Well, that could be anyone, though Adrien had a good idea that Chloé was talking about Marinette. Why wasn't she in class though? It was too late for her to be late and she had seemed just fine yesterday... _  
_

> " _It's just so annoying, because now everyone is so excited about her stupid internship. I wonder what your dad sees in that baker's daughter anyway!"_

Internship? He frowned. Marinette had gotten an internship with his father? His smile faltered and he felt as if someone had stabbed him once more (that feeling was today's companion it seemed). If she had gotten an internship, with his father of all people, then why hadn't she told him? Weren't...weren't they friends?

Adrien didn't get the time to think about it for long though, as the car pulled up into the driveway and he was ushered outside. He was asked to go into the dining room and that his father would be joining him fairly soon and so Adrien did, patiently waiting for his father to make time for him.

One could think that he'd be more concerned about his son suddenly running off to a school he had apparently never been to before.

The room was silent, aside from the noise that came from the TV. It showed some kind of public service announcement, displaying the mayor accompanied by some weird dude dressed in a military uni...Dammit!

Adrien bit his lip when he realized just who exactly that man was and his eyes started darting around the room. Dammit! How could he forget?! He shouldn't be here sorting out petty things with his father! God, _what was he_ doing?! He should leave _right now_ , find Ladybug and defeat this Akuma!

Checking the Ladyblog probably wouldn't be helpful, though he had to make sure to check it later, after interrogating Plagg in more detail. Something had gone wrong and Adrien just hoped his Lady was doing alright. Had she suffered any memory loss just like he had? What should he do if she didn't show up? He couldn't defeat the Akuma all on his own, he couldn't cleanse it! What...What if Hawkmoth had succeeded? What if…

"Adrien."

A cold voice made Adrien's head snap up and he stared at his father like a deer caught in headlights before relaxing slightly.

That was just his father. Not an evil Akuma trying to take his Miraculous. This was a battle he could win on his own.

"Father, you wanted to talk?" Adrien swallowed his worry for now, knowing what was about to come. A scolding for running off today and most likely yesterday, judging from the way his father was eyeing him.

"Why did you pretend that you had to go to school?"

Always straight to the point. Of course. Well, Adrien hadn't expected this conversation to go any different. After all his father had already asked him how he felt yesterday and that was enough parenting for the next two months.

"I didn't pretend. I've gone to public school for almost a year now." Maybe he could snap his father out of the Akuma's grip. Maybe he could stop all this from happening… "No. You did not." Gabriel didn't even _look_ at him. He was probably holding in a scoff, too.

"But I remember it!", Adrien retorted. He...no! He couldn't let this be taken away from him that easily! Defeating this Akuma could take _days!_ It wasn't much, but...no. Simply no!

"I remember all of it!" Adrien's protest echoed through the dining hall, not affecting his father in the slightest. All he did was cock an eyebrow and told him to not raise his voice in this house. It didn't fit his status after all.

The room stayed quiet for some time. His father glanced at the TV. Let out a sigh which told Adrien everything he needed to know ("I don't have time for his.") and made him wish to just wake up already. After all, there was no way this was reality. This simply had to be a...

"It was just a dream, Adrien. I know you've always wanted to attend public school – but it's for your own safety. Paris can be dangerous, filled with monsters and vigilantes declaring themselves heroes..." Adrien flinched at that and looked away. Great. Just great. Hopefully Ladybug was faring better than he was. "...and I don't want you to get hurt." At this, his father pointedly looked at the bruise on his forehead and Adrien lowered his gaze once more.

What did he expect?

"I don't know what caused this, maybe it was the injury you've received yesterday, but you have never, and _will_ never, gone to public school. Whatever you are remembering are merely remnants of a dream that you better forget before it causes any more disruption to your schedule. Are we in the clear?" "But I...", Adrien started, not willing to give up yet, not yet!, but then he stopped.

Thought.

Realized something.

There was an Akuma on the loose - he had figured that much. And for some odd reason, it had changed everything to make it seems as if he had never gone to school. He didn't know _why_ an Aluma would do that, but there was no logical reason for him to not be influenced by it (no logical reason other than being a Miraculous holder) and he couldn't afford raising suspicions. He still hadn't heard anything from Ladybug and Adrien was getting seriously worried. What if... thoughts could be turned over later.

For now he had to play along.

"I...I guess you're right, father."

The words sounded wrong. They sounded oh-so wrong, but he couldn't stop himself from saying them. He had to. Whatever was going on wasn't going to get better by fighting his father.

"It...It was probably just a dream." Adrien swallowed his disappointment and tried to resist the urge to bit his lip. "I...I'm sorry for running off like that. It won't happen again."

Adrien hated lying. He definitely wasn't sorry for it at all. But it wasn't like his father cared anyway, whether he was telling the truth or not. All he had to do was play his part.

"Talking about running off, what were you doing yesterday?!"

Something in his father's voice had changed when he asked that question. Before, his father's voice had showed the slightest bit of concern and Adrien had almost felt elevated at that (if it weren't for the topic they were discussing), but now - it sounded even colder than usual.

There was more to this question than his father let on, but two could play the game and if Adrien had learned anything throughout his life, it was how to fake emotions.

"I...I don't remember."

Adrien sounded genuinely confused to anyone that didn't know him well enough and his father did, in fact, not know him well enough. And just as he had expected, all his father did was frown, before nodding and examining his son one last time.

"Very well. For now, go to your room and freshen up a bit. Your schooling will resume as usual. The evening photo shoot will have to be cancelled though, due to your recklessness. I hope you are aware of what a hassle you are causing with your teenage rebellions, Adrien." One last stern look. One last disapproving smile. Then his father left the room and Adrien had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep the tears from spilling out.

Not again. He couldn't do it again. He just couldn't.

And he didn't even have any friends he could talk to.

**.o.O.o.**

Adrien hated this. He absolutely hated this. There was an outside curfew enforced and he was too afraid to break it as Chat without good reason, so he had decided to stay inside and call his Lady instead, hoping, no, _begging_ for her to pick up.

She hadn't.

It hadn't helped his mood. Nor had it relieves his worries.

Alya's blog was of now help whatsoever. The last entry was about an Akuma that had been spotted close to the town hall, which may have been helpful at first, but wasn't helpful now. Well, he could always check again, maybe Alya had somehow escaped the Akuma's spell, maybe…

Adrien wasn't looking where he was going when he walked towards the stairs and he was too deep in thought to take notice of the girl standing in the foyer.

It was a mishap fated to happen.

The moment he ran into the girl she squeaked in surprised and let go of whatever papers she was holding onto, scattering them around the dining hall. She dropped to her knees at an instant, blue hair loosely falling over her features and hiding them from him, until Adrien recognized the outfit and that exact shade of colour.

"Marinette?"

Confused, Adrien stared at the girl sitting in front of him. What...Oh, yeah. The internship! Maybe he _could_ talk to someone after all!

Marinette's head was lowered and her hands were frantically moving from side to side, collecting all the stray papers that she had dropped. At the sound of her name she looked up, blue eyes wide turning wider once she realized who was crouching next to her.

Adrien chuckled (he hadn't done that all day long, he realized), unable to contain his giddiness at her antics. It was nice to see her again and it was even nicer to know that she hadn't changed. She was still, clumsy, shy, somewhat adorable Marinette. She was still the same friend he had known yesterday, seemingly unaffected by whatever spell the Akuma had cast on Paris. Maybe he could ask her about that internship now and maybe he could talk about his own confusion and maybe…

"M-M-Monsieur Agreste! Oh god, I'm so, so, _so_ sorry! I didn't mean to stand in your way I was just distracted..."

Adrien's smile froze on his face.

Monsieur. She had just called him MonsieurAgreste.

Unaware of his inner turmoil, Marinette continued her rambling, continued being her typical, adorable self, continued to unknowingly stab him repeatedly in the guts. Until she had finally gotten a hold of the last piece of paper and got up.

Determination replaced her nervousness. She straightened her blazer, shook out her hair and then looked at him again, an apologetic smile on her lips, any trace of her shyness seemingly having vanished.

"I'd sincerely like to apologize, Mr. Agreste. I shouldn't have stood in your way and should have moved aside once I heard you approaching. I hope I haven't caused too much trouble."

The last sentence was accompanied by a flutter of eyes and the slightest of blushes but other than that...no stuttering. No word mix ups. Just a normal sentence (though too formal for his taste) and equally normal gestures.

It was odd, coming from Marinette. Of course he knew she didn't normally stutter – it was just around him that she got so nervous – but it was difficult for him to unite both sides of her. And seeing her like this, composed and looking just a tad more mature finally drove home the point he had tried to pointedly ignore all day:

Things were different. And he wasn't part of it anymore.

Adrien swallowed his disappointment. Well, time for introduction it was then, right? He had done it with Nino, he could do it with her. Introducing one self wasn't difficult and neither was common politeness.

Under normal circumstances that was.

"You-You can call me Adrien, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng", he said, smiling radiantly (could she still tell that it was fake? She had been able to do so in the past and something in him hoped she still could). "And of course I know you, I, uh..." Nervously, Adrien rubbed his neck. _Why_ did he know her? If Nino didn't remember him neither would Marinette and it wasn't like they had had much contact outside of school.

"I, uh...I like to know the names of the interns my dad hires! Especially the ones he holds in such high praise. _Especially_ if they're as beautiful as you are."

The words were out before he had thought them through properly, which wasn't all that surprising. He did tend to just jump into things after all. And his brain had somehow forgotten that Marinette may not be nervous around him at the moment, but that didn't mean that he was Chat. In fact, he was still boring old Adrien and judging from the surprised reaction his words caused, she had not expected that.

Well, he hadn't expected it either. But at least he had gotten her to blush a little bit.

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Marinette seemed to be unsure how to react, chuckling awkwardly, and for a moment Adrien feared that he had ruined yet another first impression, but then she smiled at him and hesitantly extended a hand.

"Well then, _Adrien.._ " Was she _teasing_ him?" "...you can call me Marinette. It's nice to meet you."

For a second, Adrien found himself blinded by the smile she shot him and almost forgot to take her hand.

But then he realized he was behaving like an idiot and took her hand, trying to summon all of Chat's suaveness (he failed miserably. He was simply too distracted).

It was an honest smile that she gave him. It was a nice smile. It was a smile one could get lost in, but most importantly it was reassuring. His friends may not remember him anymore, but that wouldn't last forever. Everything would be ok once he found Ladybug and she cast her magical spell once more. He needed that right now. He needed some comfort and if he found that in one of her smiles, it was more than he could wish for.

The moment of reprieve didn't last forever though. Soon, too soon, she let go of it hand and not a second later, the sound of footsteps coming closer made her turn around, taking away that beautiful smile.

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?", a voice called out and Nathalie appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Madame Sancoeur? I was told to bring over these files."

Marinette moved to get up the stairs and Adrien followed her, for lack of something else to do. Quickly, the folder was handed over and even faster Nathalie had examined Marinette once. A sly smile spread on her lips, before she composed herself once more and extended another hand.

"Your sketchbook?" "Oh, of course!"

Marinette handed over the pink notebook too, blushing lightly and Adrien felt envious at the sight of it. He almost never got to have a look at her sketchbook! And most definitely not when she wasn't around!

"Very well, Mademoiselle. Due to the curfew it is too late for you to head home now, so you will stay with us for the night. Your parents have already been informed and have agreed to this – Adrien, please show her to the guest rooms."

Nathalie didn't wait for either of them to answer, instead opting to simply leave and tend to her duties.

The two teens waited awkwardly until she disappeared and then waited a bit longer, neither sure what to say next.

"Uh...I guess I'll just follow you to the room?"

Marinette wasn't sure what else she was supposed to do and Adrien was obviously spacing out, judging from the look of horror on his face once she broke the silence.

"What? Yes! Of course! Guestrooms! Heh..."

He nervously rubbed his neck, before glancing at her. It took him another 30 seconds to fully compose himself, but then he finally led her through the mansion, into the west wing.

They stayed silent during their walk, Marinette using her time to admire the stylish (albeit somewhat cold) interior design and Adrien tried to process everything. Three minutes later and they stood in front of the guest room, the door open and both teens unsure what to do next.

Adrien didn't want her to leave yet. She may not know it, but they were friends and he desperately wanted some normalcy. He could ask her whether she wanted to play UMS III with him, but how would he know she was into games? Maybe they could watch a movie? A movie, that was a good idea! Just some friendly activity that friends did and that would hopefully relieve the tension a bit. And then tomorrow, he could try to find his Lady in earnest once his head was cleared.

"A movie?" Marinette cocked an eyebrow once he had asked her and Adrien suddenly realized what that probably sounded like. She didn't remember him, dammit! Of course asking her to watch a movie with him after _blatantly flirting with her_ would raise eyebrows!

Nervously, he rubbed his neck, looking at anything but her. He didn't want Marinette to get the wrong idea after all – she was nice and all, but she wasn't Ladybug _and_ she didn't remember him form their previous encounters! He knew for sure that if he'd ever ask her out to the movies while not being manipulated by an Akuma, she'd politely decline. He had to be careful to not overstep his boundaries here.

"So, uh, we have a TV in the living room? We can go there? I, uh, this isn't meant as, you know..." The rubbing intensified. "...it just gets boring around here and I don't have many people to talk to normally and, uh..."

Well, would you look at this. The roles were for once reversed. He was rambling and she was composed. What a world they lived in.

Adrien kept on rambling until a chuckle interrupted him and his head snapped up at the sound of it. Marinette''s smile was now positively teasing and he swallowed because, damn, if that didn't make her look like Ladybug and dammit Agreste, she's talking to you! "...worry, I don't mind watching a movie. Though, I'll probably have to do some homework while watching it, if you don't mind?"

Homework? She still had to do _homework_?! His father was such a slavedriver!

"Of course, I wouldn't want to stop you from furthering your education..." He sounded like an idiot, didn't he? She didn't seem to mind but he definitely sounded stupid right now… "And hey, maybe I can help you? I'm rather good at physics..." Adrien smiled awkwardly. Marinette smiled too, just minus the awkwardness, before accepting his offer and following him to the living room.

Well, for all that it was worth, at least Marinette wasn't nervous around him anymore. Maybe her shyness had indeed come from dislike after all (the thought was painful, because, while she wasn't his girlfriend, he did want her to like him – in a strictly platonic way - and maybe he could use the time he had until Ladybug showed up and scolded him for his inactivity (a scolding he definitely deserved) to get to know her better.

It didn't hurt to want to be friends with someone after all. And right now, he needed all the emotional support he could get.

He just hoped that Ladybug would show up soon.

**.o.O.o.**

"Sir, may I ask why she is here?"

Nathalie didn't often break the silence surrounding Gabriel, especially not when he was seemingly in one of his brooding moods. Gabriel was used to her being the best assistant one could wish for, fulfilling every task to excellence, never stepping out of line (or, rarely so). But the Miraculous he had lent her (and which she was strictly ordered to _not_ activate) had made her bolder and more confident and she was worried. The presence of the girl spelled out trouble and maybe her worry had made her a tad more daring than usual.

Gabriel didn't mind though. He was halfway to his goal and nothing could ruin his mood as he absent-mindedly played with the pair of earrings in his hand. A smug smile crept upon his usually guarded features and a cold glint spread in his eyes.

The Ladybug Miraculous. Just a set of somewhat boring looking earrings. There wasn't much to tell anyone about there hidden secret.

After almost a year of fighting, of Akuma after Akuma that he had to throw at the two heroes of Paris (though no one would call them like that right now) he had finally one half of the pair that would grant him his wish. And considering Chat Noir could not cleanse his latest Akuma, it was only a matter of time until he would cave in and offer his Miraculous in exchange for Paris' freedom.

Smirking, he watched the unknowing girl find her way through the mansion, ears blank of any jewellery, folding his hands in front of him, tapping the table lightly.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Nathalie. We can't have her go scheming because of some oversight and who knows, maybe Chat Noir could bring her back if he visits her. Plus, she _is_ a good addition to the company. For all her flaws and annoying habits, she has a grand future as designer ahead of her."

And maybe, just maybe, Gabriel enjoyed to watch the clueless girl. To see just how easily she had forgotten about her role as a hero. To see how clueless she was to the wrongness of all of it.

**.o.O.o.**

_Today was_ too _great. Everything went according to plan. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, other than maybe the prolonged conversation he had had with Marinette, which was a treat everytime._

_She had even stopped stuttering after ten minutes!_

_It was a dream come true and it finally made Adrien suspicious. He was the embodiment of bad luck after all! In conclusion, something was up. Either this was a dream or an Akuma would ruin his afternoon plans._

_Adrien just hoped that it wouldn't be_ too _difficult to defeat._

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm sorry for interrupting your weekend like this..." Well, they had already done so yesterday, but she wouldn't complain about the workload if that meant she could keep her internship. "…however we have something to discuss. As you may have noticed, you had to stay over the past few days due to the curfew in place and your duties. Seeing as this will most likely occur more often, I'd like to make your stay more permanent."
> 
> -
> 
> Had Ladybug abandoned him? Had she...He choked at the thought. Had she given up on him? Had he messed up that badly during the fight? Had he...Had he disappointed her that badly? Surely not, right? Surely...Surely there was some other explanation! Maybe she was in hospital! Maybe she had...No! She hadn't lost! This was Ladybug they were talking about. Ladybug! She never lost!
> 
> His first word wasn't loud. In fact, it was barely a whisper. But as time passed he got louder and louder until he finally had the courage to desperately shout at the top of his lungs.
> 
> "LADYBUG! LADYBUG, WHERE ARE YOU?! LADYBUG!"

**What if all of Paris forgets**   
**Chapter Two**

* * *

Chat Noir was used to the feeling of freedom engulfing him every time he ran across Parisian rooftops. He was used to the feeling of adrenaline that kept him awake even at the end of the most exhausting days. Chat Noir was used to the feeling of invincibility that came with the job of being a superhero, even if he did get knocked into walls more often than he liked.

Chat Noir was not used to the crushing feeling of failure overcoming him once he put on the mask. And neither was he used to the feeling of defeated and desperation.

The night was clear and perfectly beautiful and if it were a normal night, Chat would have rushed through the city and then begged Ladybug to extent their patrol time just a bit longer so they simply could talk to each other. She'd probably deny him this luxury, but sometimes he got lucky (he! _He_ got lucky! _)_ and she spent a few more fleeting minutes with him until eventually her earrings (or his ring) let out a first beep. He normally cherished those moments. He normally cherished those clear nights.

But today was far from being a normal night and he still hadn't found Ladybug. She hadn't showed yesterday and she wasn't showing now, Sunday morning, either. It made sense that she hadn't appeared - it was during the day after and they usually didn't patrol on Sundays either - but there was this nagging feeling in the back of Chat's mind that told him there was more to it.

Chat decided he'd ignore that particular feeling. After all, he'd be damned if he gave up this easily and because of some stupid afterthought nonetheless! So, banishing building the unease that was slowly creeping through his body, Chat Noir cautiously made his way over Paris' rooftops, watching out for any unwanted onlookers. He didn't want to be seen, not by anyone but his Lady and especially not by those stupid robot controls that haunted the street at every moment of the day.

Who knew what catastrophe might set off if they caught him and who knew how disappointed Ladybug would be if she heard of his mishap! Maybe all of this had happened because he had been knocked out during the fight! Argh, he couldn't bear the thought of her being disappointed in him! He simply had to find her, question her about what had happened and apologize for his errors. Then they could find the Akuma, de-evilize it and go their merry way. So, eyes on the road and no distractions, because he couldn't afford to lose any more time.

Chat Noir checked their usual places. Checked the landmarks Ladybug was fond of, the Notre Dame, the Eifeltower, all those other sights they had shared countless moments on. He looked out for any red spots on the horizon, listened for any sounds of something zipping through the air, he even tried his sense of smell and he was a cat! But, no matter how long he looked, he came up empty handed. Maybe she was busy? She had to be – with all that was going on, maybe she simply didn't have time right now. Sure, it was strange she hadn't even contacted him yet, but who knew what was going on in her life right now. Maybe all of this had disrupted her civilian life and surely, she had been as blind-sided by all of this as he had. Did she still remember what had happened or had she lost her memory as well?

It didn't matter, in his mind. Chat kept looking. Kept slinking around roofs, cursing every time one of those damned robots looked up, as if they had spotted him.

And even though he turned up empty-handed and it was getting too late to keep looking, he was positive that tomorrow would paint a different picture.

**.o.O.o.**

It was Sunday when she was called into Mr. Agreste's office. It had been awkward and Marinette had been scared – had she made a mistake? Had she perhaps offended him somehow? Was she getting _fired_?! But it had all seemed to go so well! On Saturday she had left for office again, then she had been called back to the Agreste mansion once more and had spent yet another night. Her parents had been fine with it and her colleagues had congratulated her the ingenuity she had shown when criticizing one of the new designs. But maybe that was all for show..? Or maybe she had made some sort of huge mistake? What if she had?! What if she hadn't noticed and she had done something by accident?! She had spilled a cup of coffee earlier this day and it had gotten some papers dirty, after all! They had told her they hadn't been important and that it was fine, but what if they had been wrong and she had accidentally destroyed a priceless design of Mr. Agreste himself and what if he'd never forgive her and she'd lose her internship and every other fashion company would blacklist her and…

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng? Mr. Agreste is ready to speak to you now."

Marinette shot up the moment she heard Madame Sanocoeur's voice and blinked at her in shock for a few seconds, before composing herself again. Which wasn't easy with the woman's ever present scowl being directed at her.

"O-Of course! I-I'll in right now go! I-I mean, I go will in now! No, I..."

Marinette breathed in once. A second time. Composed herself. Then...

"I-I will go in now."

She tried to smile apologetically, but Madame Sanocoeur had already turned away.

The door to Mr. Agreste's office was opened and cautiously Marinette entered, her eyes glued to the floor. Was this it? Would they throw her out? Would she have to face her parents, did she have to tell them what an utter disappointment she was? What would her classmates say?! She could already hear Chloé's taunts!

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?"

Mr. Agreste's words ripped her from her thoughts and her head snapped up again, eyes wide in fear. Marinette had always been a rather expressive person and it was easy to tell how she felt from the expression she wore on her face. Mr. Agreste on the other hand, not so much. His face was nothing but an impassive wall. Maybe there was a faint scowl to be seen, but nothing was definite.

It was unsettling.

"Uh, uhm, hi! I-I mean Morning good! Uh, good morning! Good morning!"

Marinette cursed her own nerves and her habit of stuttering, knowing full well that she was leaving a terrible impression. Maybe if she was just a tad more confident he'd take her more serious, maybe she could make a case..!

She just had to be more confident.

"G-Good morning, Mr. Agreste. You wanted to speak to me?"

See? She could do it! One full sentence said without too much trouble!

"Indeed, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. Could you take a seat please?"

She had to take a seat? Did they have to talk for long? Or was it something serious? If it was something serious...No. No, she wouldn't think about it. Channeling her inner...her inner what? Anyway, trying to assemble as much confidence as possible, Marinette stepped forward, smiling shakily and pulled out the chair opposite of Mr. Agreste, trying not to whimper from his stare alone.

That was sure to leave a terrible impression.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your weekend like this..." Well, they had already done so yesterday, but she wouldn't complain about the workload if that meant she could keep her internship. "…however we have something to discuss. As you may have noticed, you had to stay over the past few days due to the curfew in place and your duties. Seeing as this will most likely occur more often, I'd like to make your stay more permanent."

Mr. Agreste said it in such a non-nonchalant way that Marinette suddenly freezing up at his words was almost comical. Her expression morphed into one of utter horror and it stayed there for a long minute in which she didn't even dare to breathe anymore. P-P-Permanent? He wanted her to stay at his house _permanently_?! Once she had realized just what that entailed her eyes grew even wider and she stared at him open-mouthed, before remembering her manners and hastily scrambling to regain posture.

"P-P-Permanent?", she squeaked, unsure whether she had heard him correctly. She...wasn't getting fired?

"Yes. Permanent. Seeing as you are one of my most valued interns I will require your assistance at any time. You staying at this place would open up more of your schedule and would improve your productivity. I assume you have no qualms against such a proposal?"

Mr. Agreste cocked an eyebrow, as if daring her to disagree and at first, Marinette had no idea why she should. This was amazing after all! A step up, in a way! But then she remembered her parents and the fact that she had friends and she frowned.

"Mr. Agreste are-are you sure that's a good idea? I don't mean to impolite be! I-I mean be to impolite! To be impolite! But, uh...What-What about my parents?"

"Your parents?"

"Y-Yes! They-I don't think they'd be fine with it!"

Mr. Agreste sighed and gently shook his head and there was something akin to a smile forming on his lips and...Was...Was he amused?!

"Your parents were already informed of this, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. You mustn't worry. Of course I would never propose an arrangement like this without your parents' permission They have agreed that this is the best course of action and told me they were rather proud of you."

Marinette fell silent for a moment, thinking about this new information. She...It made sense. And it wasn't a surprised that her parents would let her stay, but...Something felt wrong. Somehow, she didn't _want_ to stay. Which was _ridiculous_ , but then again...

"I, uh, didn't-didn't mean that! It's just...my parents and I are super close! And, I-I wouldn't want to stay away from them for so long! Are you sure this is the best course of action? I could just get up earlier and I promise, I'll work extra hard! I could work on designs while I'm on the metro and could get inspiration on my walks to work, so I can save time that way!"

Was she rambling? She was rambling. So, Marinette decided to simply shut her mouth and await judgment.

Mr. Agreste didn't say anything for a few seconds and Marinette tried to make herself smaller. She had messed up, hadn't she? She had messed up big time. She should have simply taken him up on his offer and be done with it, why did she always ruin all the things that were good in her life on her own, why…

"I fully understand your concerns, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. In fact, they make me think more highly of you. However, this is an incredible opportunity, I am sure you are aware of that. Additionally, the Controller himself has advised the people of Paris to stay as close to their workplace as possible. The less people there are on the streets the safer the world, after all."

Marinette bit her lip at his words. The...The Controller…?

"The-The Controller really said that?", she asked timidly, trying to remember the Controller's words. She had never heard about this specific advise, but then again…

"Of course he did. Did you not watch the broadcast?"

Marinette shook her head. She hadn't.

"I...I didn't have the time to do so, Mr. Agreste."

She tried her best to smile until she realized what she had just said and hastily added:"But! But, I will once I have time! I-I'm not rejecting his words of advise or anything!"

She knew her panic made her sound even more suspicious, but what was she supposed to do? She didn't want anyone thinking she didn't listen to the Controller!

But, to Marinette's amazement, Mr. Agreste simply...smiled? (That was _two_ times so far! _Two times_!) before his face morphed back into a passive wall and he adopted his typical expression.

"Is that so..? I'll have your schedule adjusted to make time for it. And with that out of the way..." Here, Mr. Agreste leaned forward the tiniest bit and he stared at her even more intensely than he had done so before. The way he viewed her, almost amused, unsettled her and Marinette surpressed the urge to lean away.

"I learned that you and my son watched a movie together on Friday?"

Marinette froze. Again. Mr. Agreste was asking her about the movie night?! Had she misbehaved?! Had she been too comfortable?! She hadn't meant to start anything! If anything, _Adrien_ had flirted with _her_!

"I-I..." Marinette was at a loss for words. How did one respond to such a question?!

Apparently, you didn't, because Mr. Agreste followed up his first question with another one.

"Did you enjoy it?"

Now, Marinette spluttered. Had she...Had she _enjoyed_ it?

Truth was, the movie night had been weird. It hadn't been necessarily bad or anything, but it hadn't been the best time of her life either. Marinette had tried her best to keep her distance – she didn't know him after all and if she messed up she was sure to lose her new internship as quickly as she had gained it. Everyone in Paris knew how much Gabriel Agreste dotted on his son. So distance it was. Not, that Adrien had made it easy. He had been strangely chummy (almost flirtatious) at times and then, at other times, he had put a great amount of distance between them. Pair that with an almost constant blush, his habit of scratching his neck and his awkward chuckling and Marinette got the feeling that he was incredibly socially awkward. Which wasn't that hard to understand. He had been home-schooled all his life after all. But it had also put her off. Whenever she tried to hold an actual conversation with him he had deflected and had instead started talking about non-nonsensical stuff. It had been irritating and felt somewhat dishonest, but she wasn't one to complain. He hadn't been overly rude, he hadn't behaved like Chloé and she wouldn't necessarily mind redoing the whole thing. He had been decent company after all. However, she also wouldn't mind it all that much if Mr. Agreste put a stop to it either.

"So, you have spent some time with him?"

"Uh, yes?"

What...Why the sudden interest?

"What do you think of him?"

What did she _think of him_?!

"Uh...He's...Nice?"

What...What was Mr. Agreste getting at?! Was he trying to set them up?! Was he afraid she might start something?! Did he really think her that unprofessional?!

Apparently, he did. Or not. It wasn't like he told her much more about it.

"Very well then, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. That was all. You can resume your day as planned. I'll have someone bring over clothes and other necessities from your house. They will be dropped there sometime. Have a nice day."

And with those words, he turned away. Well, no, not really. He simply looked down, staring at the paper's in his hand, but the slightest shift in his demeanor was sign enough for Marinette to leave.

So she did.

She got up and left, missing the last, finally glance Mr. Agreste spared her.

Gabriel watched the girl leave, trying hard not to smugly grin just yet. He knew of her crush, _former_ crush (who didn't?) on his son and Gabriel was also very much aware that Adrien may like her just a tad bit more than a friend. Though he had this ridiculous crush on Ladybug which he was terrible at hiding at and seemed to overshadow any other affections he currently held.

It was kind of ironic, if one thought about it. But it didn't matter. He had to make sure she didn't get too close to his son, or rather, his son couldn't get too close to her.

Gabriel didn't mind them being _friends,_ that was perfectly fine with him. He had seen how miserable his son had felt those past few days and while he didn't think him spending time with other people his age was important, it had impacted his performance during yesterday's photo shoot. And Marinette was a nice girl. She was polite and talented and if the circumstances had been different, he might have taken a liking to her.

It was eerie to see Ladybug like this. Gabriel knew her as that one pesky girl that always thwarted his plans and didn't do much else. Seeing her as an actual girl...it was strange. Especially considering she wasn't bad. He had always imagined the real Ladybug to be some kind of delinquent, someone who skipped school in favor of...smoking, or something and being a general nuisance to the grown-ups of this world. But she wasn't. In fact, the only issue she seemed to have was her reoccurring tardiness, which could partially be explained with her... _volunteer work._ So, maybe Ladybug hadn't been as bad as he had always imagined. But she had come in between him and his wife. He was no such thing as "politeness" distract him from his impending victory.

The Black Cat Miraculous couldn't stay hidden forever after all.

**.o.O.o.**

When Marinette saw Adrien the next day, she was shocked to find him with dark circles under his eyes and with no appetite starring at the food in front of him. To be fair, the food didn't look all that good in the first place, but still. So, putting her fork aside, trying to ignore the awkwardness that seemed to follow them around every time they were alone in a room, she tried her best to bridge the silence.

"Are...Are you ok?"

She hoped he didn't mind her seemingly asking out of nowhere, but she couldn't bear to see anyone looking like this. Heck, this could be Chloé and she'd be worried!

Adrien didn't mind her question. But he didn't answer her either. It left MArinette at a loss of word, only determined to try her best to cheer him up. She tried her best to talk to him on Monday and offer him to listen (Marinette had the distinct feeling that no one else in this house was up to that challenge) but she had barely seen him. He had been busy with extracurricular activities and had spent the rest of the day holed up in his room, presumably napping considering he didn't answer anyone's calls. On Tuesday her parents had sent her a box filled with pastries (they had made Alya deliver it after school) and she offered to share them with him, an offer he had quickly taken her up on. Though, he had simply snatched the pastries and slunk back into his room, eyes glued to the floor as if something terrible had happened.

For a brief moment Marinette wondered how he dared to feel like that if the Controller was doing everything he could do to keep everyone happy, but then realized what a terrible thought that was and thus, because she was feeling guilty, she didn't dare to speak to him for the rest of the day.

It didn't get better on Wednesday. She met him during breakfast and if anything, he looked _worse._ He snapped at people for no reason at all and it left a sour taste in her mouth, because what if that was just his normal attitude? But then she also saw how he rubbed his neck afterwards or cast his eyes to the floor in a clear display of a feeling guilty and her bad impression wavered again.

So, deciding she had to so _something_ she went over to his room, determinedly knocking on his door and waiting for him to answer.

For a split second she thought she heard voices talking and she felt bad. Had she interrupted a phone call? Maybe...Wasn't she being a bit bold, offering him her ear just like that? They didn't even know each other and although he _looked_ lonely, it didn't mean he was! She knew for a fact that he was friends with Chloé (how he could stand her was behind Marinette), so what kept him from being friends with other people of his social standing?

But, before Marinette could turn away and sprint down the hall again to save herself from the inevitable embarrassment, the door ripped open and Adrien stood in the frame, staring at her with those dark circles and something that almost looked like a scowl.

Marinette visibly flinched back and immediately regretted her choice, but she had come this far and she wouldn't be intimidated by a boy her same age! So, bravely, she swallowed all her concerns and simply smiled at him, asking:"Do you, maybe, want to hang out? Watch a movie?"

When Adrien had opened the door, he had expected Nathalie to stand on the other side, telling him about a change in schedule or some equally annoying news. That it was instead Marinette (his friend Marinette, that _didn't remember him)_ was a punch in his gut because it remembered him of this new reality he had barely had time to face. For a moment, he silently stared at her, at her cheerful face and it made him want to slam the door in her face (because how dare she be so happy after everything that had happened!).

Marinette wore a pleasant smile, one that Adrien knew well enough. He had been forced to smile often enough to know when someone else fake smiled but even though Marinette did just that, she still put so much sincerity behind it.

It was simply incredible.

Well, plus, this was Marinette. Maybe she really was being sincere – she had a heart made from gold after all, even if he was only rarely allowed to see it.

He probably shouldn't slam the door in her face.

But just because he didn't do that, didn't mean he was in a good mood.

"No. I _don't_ _w_ ant to watch a movie."

He tried his best to appear calm and it was taxing. He shouldn't be here. He had been at the point of transforming again before she had shown up and right now he shouldn't be talking to pretty girls, but instead search all of Paris for his Lady.

"Well, we can do something else if you want? It's just...you seem to be so worried lately and I thought maybe doing som..."

"That's right, I'm _worried_ ", he bit out, interrupting her. Instinctively, Marinette backed away, holding her hands up as if to say she didn't mean any harm, which, well, Adrien _knew_ was true, but she was taking up his time and he didn't have any of that to spare!

(Back in his mind there was a voice scolding him for his behavior right now, but he was too worried and too tired to care.)

"I'm worried and I _don't_ have time to _was_...te...with you..."

He trailed off, shock evident on his face as he realized his own words and the visible effect they had on Marinette. Her face faded into a timid expression and she barely dared to look up at him.

What was he doing?! Heck, he might as well have slammed the door in her face! It would have been less rude than how he had ended up handling the situation!

And she was already turning away!

"Marinette! Wait!"!, he called out, grabbing hold of her wrist before she could fully leave, causing her to let out a startled "What?".

Well, the expression of surprise suited her much better anyway.

"I-I'm so, _so_ sorry! I really am!"

Because this was _Marinette_ and how _dare he_ snap at her!

"I-I didn't mean to snap at you..." He trailed off again, wondering how to best explain this situation without actually explaining it.

"I...I'm just tired and worried and I-I just have a hard time adjusting to, uh, _something_. And, please, _please_..."

Because this was Marinette (!) and while he'd be fine with her not being his closest friend (it hurt, sure, but he could live with it) her outright hating him was something he couldn't accept. Especially not now. Not right now. Not now, that he only had Chloé to talk to and no one else that would offer an ear to listen.

"...forgive me. I really didn't mean to, you just interrupted something important and I got mad and, and... But-But that isn't your fault! Don't - Don't worry about it!"

He let go of her wrist again, looking at her with big, pleading eyes (he channeled his inner Chat Noir to do that) and after a second filled with agony, she cautiously turned back to him and smiled. It was a hesitant smile and it told him everything he needed to know: He had screwed up again. First the gum incident, now this! How any people could say they got two first impressions? And how many of those managed to ruin _both_?! But at least she smiled.

"I-I would love to hang out again with you!"

Her eyes lit up at his words and it made it all the harder to say the next.

"But...not today? Maybe some other time?"

The homely flames in her eyes that had been there just a second ago had been diminished immediately. Great. Real great, smooth, Agreste, you did it.

But at least she seemed to be fine with that.

"Sure! If, uh, if you ever have time you can just ask me, ok? Oh, and..."

Marinette hesitated for a moment, her eyes flickering to the wall beside her and she bit her lip adorably.

"If...If you need someone to talk – I mean, I know we're not friends or anything! - but if you need anyone to talk about whatever is bothering you, you can tell me, ok? I've been told that I'm quite the listener..."

And then she smiled again and all Adrien could do was nod silently because boy, if Marinette smiled her entire body lit up and all one could do was stare and admire her.

Marinette was amazing. He had always known it.

It was her voice that ripped him from his thoughts and the fact that she slowly stepped back, taking her smile with her.

"I, uh, I'll go then? See you around!"

Adrien expected her to leave, maybe even run away (she did have that annoying habit around him), but instead she did something… uncharacteristic. Well, something uncharacteristic around _him. Because s_ he slightly punched his shoulder, smiled mischievously and said:"Dark circles don't suit you after all. You should get more sleep!"

And then she left.

For a moment, Adrien stared after her, dumbfounded, but then remembered her words. "Dark Circles". Of course he spotted dark circles beneath his eyes. He had been busy during night looking for his Lady.

And so, he too, turned away, closing his door and calling for Plagg to transform him. There was a city to save after all.

**.o.O.o.**

Thursday. It was Thursday. Ladybug hadn't shown yesterday. She hadn't even left a message. And Chat...got worried. Of course, he knew Lady hadn't abandoned him – she'd never do that - but - what if, maybe - something had happened? To her? Was she injured in her civilian life? Surely, that must be the case! But...couldn't she at least contact him to tell him to lay low? God, he didn't even know _who_ they were fighting!

Well, that wasn't entirely true. They were fighting the Controller, or at least, they were _supposed_ to fight the Controller. But he didn't know anything else and while Chat Noir might be reckless, he wasn't downright stupid. Rushing unprepared and all alone in an environment were all citizens would jump at the chance to rat him out to those weird robot thinks was not a solid plan.

Which was why he needed his Lady. She knew what to do. She always had a plan. It was why he loved her and it was why she'd always be the better super hero.

It was why he desperately needed her because he _just couldn't do this on his own_. He needed help! He needed _her_ help! What was Chat Noir without Ladybug if not an over sized stuffed cat?!

So far all _he_ had come up with was to use his status to sneak into the Controller's hideout and then surprise him. But without his Lady he stood no chance at de-evilizing the akuma anyway and he didn't even know where the Controller was anyway. The broadcast didn't give anything away other than that it was most likely filmed in the town hall which made sense, but wasn't very helpful. Since he didn't know when they were filming, he sadly couldn't simply barge in and challenge the Akuma and thus, he was helpless. And just what exactly did the Akuma do? How had he managed to take control of all of Paris that easily? Was he able to zap people individually and then mind-control them? But that didn't make any sense! There was no way he had done that to all of Paris! And everyone just seemed to roll with it...Or maybe they were scared?

Chat had patrolled for one full hour before he finally managed to find a lead. Not on Ladybug, but a lead nonetheless.

While those patrolling robots were capable at sniffing out almost everything, they weren't the best at fixing stuff and the traces left from a past battle were still visible. It wasn't much and it wasn't surprising he had missed them the past few days. A bit of debris here, a bent pipe, a wall something had evidently slammed into – small details, nothing more. Things you didn't notice unless you specifically looked for it.

The evidence painted a pretty clear picture though – Ladybug must have shown up next to the shoe store and challenged the Akuma and judging from the amount of bent things, he imagined she had kept dodging it. Judging from the amount of coordinated footsteps in the park close by, the Akuma had also probably had some kind of way to mind control innocent bystanders – whether by transforming them or actual mind control Chat couldn't tell from the evidence.

But other than that, he didn't find much more. No more signs of a battle, no more clues towards the Akuma's abilities. Nothing. Not a direction he could follow or any discernible pattern. Maybe Ladybug had been held back by the controlled masses? Maybe the Akuma could fly and had managed to lose her? Well, if that was the case, it meant the Akuma had a goal, someone they wanted to get back on. Maybe they had searched out that person? He should probably check on on Chloé at some later point in time just to make sure she was doing fine and hadn't had played any part in the akumatization. Though, if her texts were anything to go off on, she was doing just fine.

It was the only lead he had though.

After another hour of looking for clues, Chat realized he had to head home. It was getting late and he had been booked for an early photo shoot tomorrow. And surely, his Lady would be proud of his investigations so far, right? Surely, he had already figured out enough for her to affectionately scratch his chin or pat his head or to somehow show him that she was proud of him.

If he found her that was.

…

No! Chat Noir's eyes went wide and he almost missed the next jump. _When_ he found her, that was. _When_. Not "if".

But somehow, Chat had more difficulties banishing his doubt this time than he had throughout all of this week.

**.o.O.o.**

It was early morning and the sun was tentatively stretching her fingers around the world. Very few rays found their way into the enclosed observatory but the ones who did bore witness to the most fearsome sight in all of Paris.

Or it would have been. The Controller had done a marvelous job at making people forget.

Gabriel stood silently in his ocean of butterflies, listening to the fluttering of their wings. The house was quiet, not a soul awake yet. His son should be up soon though and so should his new _intern,_ but he still had a few minutes.

Gabriel's eyes fluttered to his hands, fists tightly clenched around two dots, his knuckles white.

The Ladybug Miraculous.

The earrings weighed heavy in his hand, their black dots sparkling in a way that could only be explained with magic. Well, no, maybe he was seeing things. Maybe the black dots didn't sparkle. The jewelry was supposed to look ordinary after all. But it meant so much and after days of simply starring at them, knowing of the knowledge that they held, he was finally able to use them.

It was Friday. Chat Noir hadn't shown his cowardly face for most of the past week – just some reported sightings of a former hero who tentatively dared to venture outside, trying to pick up where he had left.

They had failed. The oh so great heroes of Paris had failed. What did Chat Noir feel like? Slowly realizing what that entailed? Slowly figuring out there was no way he'd ever get "his Lady" back? That she didn't even remember him? Gabriel grinned at the thought alone. And then he steeled his resolve once more and looked at the earrings in his hand.

It was time to talk to a certain Kwami.

Putting on the earrings was more difficult than expected. He had gotten his ears pierced – no pain was too much to get his wife back – but he fiddled with the set of jewelry before he managed to put them in.

And once he wore them, he felt something around him change. He felt the presence of an ancient being, but unlike Nooroo, it felt gentle and warm. Like a spring day.

It made sense, he supposed. But what he supposed and didn't suppose wasn't at all important at the moment.

"Marinette! Marinette, don't take off the..."

The honey-like voice trailed off as the Kwami took in her surroundings. And then her eyes grew impossible wide and she started shaking uncontrollably.

"No...", she murmured, voice silent like the wind. His grin grew. Such an adversary, reduced to nothing but a floating ladybug.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO LADYBUG?!"

Suddenly, the floating bug was in his face, attacking him with all the vigor only an ancient goddess could posses. Gabriel hissed when she tried to scratch him and stumbled back, raising his arms protectively over his face. This little…

"ENOUGH!", he shouted, trying to stand upright once more. He would NOT be ridiculed by a mere BUG.

"ENOUGH! I am your master and I command you to STOP!" He grabbed the Kwami from the air and held her in front of him, her squirming form glowing red with anger.

"You are _not_ my master!", she hissed, but Gabriel knew uncertainty when he saw it and the Kwami was unsure.

He also knew why.

"I am wearing your Miraculous and you shall do as I command. I will have none of your ridiculous resistance", he sneered, before letting go of the Kwami who took in a few heavy breaths and glared at him.

He would have been scared – they were gods after all – if it weren't for the fact that he was her master. She couldn't fight back against him. It went against her nature.

"I don't have to do _anything_ , Hawkmoth!"

Her voice hadn't any traces all of its former sweetness left, but Gabriel didn't care. There were more important things than the feeling of a Kwami.

"You have to. Or do you think Nooroo is helping me because he wants to? I advise you to learn your place, Ladybug Kwami..."

He turned away, eyeing the outside through the hole in the wall once more. The sun was about to wake his son soon. He had to hurry if he wanted to get this done quickly.

"And, now tell me...How do I transform?"

"As if I'd tell you pathetic excuse of a holder _anything",_ the Kwami spat back, disgust visible in her eyes. Gabriel scowled in response, feeling his patience fade. He didn't have time for this. There was a job waiting for him. Now that he didn't have to waste any precious time on akumatizing anyone, he could finally catch up on work.

And no Kwami's stubbornness would keep him from doing so.

" _I_ am wearing the earrings, _I_ am your Holder and _I_ am ordering you to tell me. We both know the rules. So stop playing around and tell me everything. By starting with a name for example..."

The Kwami didn't answer directly, instead she decided to avert her gaze, before, slowly, tortuously slowly, spitting it out. "T-Tikki."

Gabriel could hear the defeat in her voice and for a moment he almost felt sorry, but then he remembered.

Her smile. Her laugh. Her voice.

He had to do it. Regardless of how hurt the Kwami was, regardless of how nice the girl behind the mask had turned out to be.

"And, pray tell...What's the phrase?"

Another beat of silence passed. But then she told him. She finally. A grin spread on his face and Gabriel relaxed his posture.

"Well then, _Tikki_..." He saw the Kwami shiver in anticipation. Felt the glares that burned his skin.

"...Spots on."

**.o.O.o.**

He was going crazy. He was going stir-crazy. He simply couldn't take it anymore. There had been no sign of Ladybug and other than the signs of a battle he had found earlier this week, nothing out of the ordinary (out of this new ordinary) had happened.

Nothing. Paris was silent at night. Life went on.

But everything was just so terribly wrong. People...people weren't supposed to stay inside all day, the streets of Paris weren't supposed to be dead silent during the day, there weren't supposed to be any robots patrolling the street, asking anyone walking around after curfew for their permit to do so.

He just...Where was she? Where...Where was she?! Why...Why didn't she show up anymore? Plagg hadn't been able to help him either, simply starring at him with those sad eyes of him, before zipping of and hiding and not wanting to talk to him anymore.

Had Ladybug abandoned him? Had she...He choked at the thought. Had she given up on him? Had he messed up that badly during the fight? Had he...Had he disappointed her that badly? Surely not, right? Surely...Surely there was some other explanation! Maybe she was in hospital! Maybe she had...No! She hadn't lost! This was _Ladybug_ they were talking about. Ladybug! She never lost!

But fact was, that she wasn't there and that he didn't know how to find her. And thus, Chat Noir decided to do what he was best known for: be reckless and catch everyone's attention.

His first word wasn't loud. In fact, it was barely a whisper. But as time passed he got louder and louder until he finally had the courage to desperately shout at the top of his lungs.

"LADYBUG! LADYBUG, WHERE ARE YOU?! LADYBUG!"

And he screamed and shouted until his voice gave in and his miraculous beeped for the first time.

But he wouldn't give up. Not this easily. He _had_ to find her.

And he _would_.

**.o.O.o.**

_They were standing on opposing sides of the room, him carefully calculating, already having planned his very next move, her, fists balled and scowling at him._

_How had they ended up here? He hadn't done anything wrong!_

_"I just want to know where you went! What did you do? Why did you drink? I told you not to drink outside if you're alone!"_

_"I wasn't alone!", she hissed, biting her lips. She hadn't been – she had been with her friends. But he didn't care. He never did. If she had plans she had to run them through with him – and she always, always needed his approval._

_"Didn't I ask you not to go? You know how those bars can get and I don't want you to get hurt!"_

_She hissed again, having heard this argument time and time again. It was too dangerous. Her friends were a bad influence. He had wanted to spent time with her!_

_She was sick of it. She was so, so sick of it. Maybe that had been one of the reasons why she hadn't told him were she was. Why she had maybe ignored his texts because god, all she wanted was to have one night to herself in which she didn't get harassed by her boyfriend for daring to do something her own way._

_"You don't get to control me!", she spat angrily. She didn't have to wait for an answer for long._

_"I'm just telling you what's best for you! Look at you! You're drunk! What if something had happened?! What if someone had attacked you? Plenty of things could have gone wrong, plenty of things could have happened, that's why yous should just listen and stop be..."_

_"BUT THEY DIDN'T GO WRONG!", she threw back, growing more agitated with each passing second. She had to get out of here. She...She needed to take a walk. Needed some fresh air. Needed some distance. She just...didn't want to deal with this right now._

_So she stared at him, trying to make him see, make him feel what she thought but all it did was create a tense quietness that neither of them was comfortable with._

_Louis was the first one to cave in. With a sigh, he picked up her discarded jacket and shook his head, as if she was a mere child and he was her parent, trying to make her understand."Marie, just...just come inside, take off your shoes and we'll talk about your behavior..."_

_"No!", she hissed, impulsively snatching her jacket our of his hands:"No, I don't want to talk about this. I'm...I'm leaving. I just...I need to get away. I - I can't do this. Not right now."_

_hen she grabbed the keys and ran and he….He froze. Realizing that the door had just been slammed into his face. And after a minute or so of simple starring, he ripped it open again, running after her._

_No...No! She shouldn't drive! Driving while being in an emotional state was dangerous! And she was tipsy! Didn't she know that?! "WAIT!", he shouted after her. "WAIT! DON'T DRIVE!" She could leave. He wouldn't stop her, he'd never stop her, but, but..._

_"DON'T TAKE THE CAR!"_

_She should take a walk, she was right, they had had an argument but…_

_But he was too late. He heard the motor start, saw her driving off._

_And he knew something bad was going to happen._

_Hawkmoth stood in his observatory, humming at the various emotions he was feeling all throughout the city. There were many angry people in Paris, though he had to admit – it had gotten better. Parisians had learned how to deal with their emotions. But they were human still and humans could always be exploited._

_Gabriel stared at his inner map of Paris, determining which person he should choose as his next victim – and when he found it, he hesitated. Anger. Disappointment. Worry. All very useful emotions. It wouldn't be the strongest Akuma out there, but it would do its job at keeping the heroes awake. Hawkmoth was no idiot. He could identify sleep deprivation when he spotted it. Keeping his nemesis on their toes was just yet another way to wear them down._

_It was an easy feat, caling one of his trusty butterflies, tainting it with evil. It should have been equally easy to sent it off to infect yet another troubled soul. But he didn't._

_For a moment, Hawkmoth stopped. Looked at the purple wings in his hand. Tried to find the connection to his next victim. He had an inkling, a faint idea that somehow, this could get worse. Somehow, this could be more than yet another Akuma defeated in less than an hour. Somehow, this particular person might just give him what he needed._

_Hawkmoth sent the Akuma back, the purple fluttering away from its wings when it joined its brothers. And then he waited. This could get worse._

_He just needed to be patient._

**.o.O.o.**

She hadn't showed up. Not on Thursday when he had frantically called her name. Not on Friday when he had patrolled their usual route, knowing that technically speaking she should be out. Not on Saturday, when he had waited on top of the Eifeltower for four hours. Not on Sunday when he had left her millions of letters wherever he could. Not on Monday when he had spent three hours crying at their usual spot.

Ladybug was gone without leaving a single trace. Chat had looked for more hints about the Akuma, but had mostly turned up empty-handed. A broken roof tile. Another bent pipe. Scratches on a chimney. Nothing major. And while Chat Noir wouldn't give up – not like this – he knew he needed a break. Needed to take his head off of all of this. Needed a moment just to breathe.

He needed to stop thinking about Ladybug because he just couldn't sleep anymore and he was of no use right now, not like this.

And thus, summoning all his courage, Adrien made his way to the guest room Marinette was currently occupying and hoped she'd forgive him for showing up so late. She had to work tomorrow after all, but maybe he could get away with it if he offered her to help with some of that physics homework she had complained about over breakfast.

Their relationship was...weird. His father had neglected to tell him she lived with them now and he still wasn't sure how to act around her. She was so... _different_. Well, no. Not really. He had always known Marinette could be confident and a charming spitfire, something that reminded him a lot of his Lady, actually. He had seen her be like that around other people, heck, he had seen her be like that around his own alter-ego, but she always behaved so differently around him. What was so different now? If she really was still made at him for the gum incident, then why wasn't she mad at him now? He hadn't been extraordinarily nice to her that one time she had offered him her help, but she didn't seem to mind. So what had changed?  
Adrien didn't get the chance to think it through fully, because at the moment the door was opened and Marinette looked at him, big, bluebell eyes focused on him accompanied by a shy smile. Great, now he was thinking of his Lady again and he had come here to get _distracted_ from her.

He didn't want to cry in front of Marinette. She shouldn't have to worry about his problems.

"Oh, hi Adrien. Can I help you?"

"Uh, yes, I...I kind of need a distraction right now. Can I...Can I take you up on the offer of another movie night?" She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at this (just like... _dammit!_ ) before opening the door a bit wider.

She didn't move from the door frame just yet though.

"Now?"

"Yes? Is-Is it a bad time right now? I can come back later if you want, I don't mean to intrude..."

"What, oh, no, don't worry! Your always welcome! I was just surprised, that's all." And with that she stepped away, smiling brightly at him, welcoming him into her room that already, after barely a week and a half, looked more lived in than his own.

Well, that was Mari for you.

They decided to watch a movie again and abandoned that plan in favor of talking about things. Adrien tried his best to describe his problems a well as he could considering the circumstances and Marinette did her best to comfort him with that endless optimism of hers. In turn, Marinette described how it was, working for Gabriel's and Adrien got once again the treat of her going on one of her legendary rants on how she'd ruin her future. It'd be adorable if it wouldn't worry him so much – how could someone who was this comforting of others and so down-right amazing think of herself so badly?

When he told her that much, she actually blushed and Adrien grinned. He counted that as a win in his own book.

At some point they realized the movie had already ended and Marinette's initial plan was to kick him out, but he had used his best impression of cute kitten eyes and she had agreed to let him stay for one more movie.

And it was fun. Somehow, the meeting was as awkward anymore as it had been the first time. Maybe it was because Adrien was too emotionally drained to care about whether he did or did not act too familiar or maybe it was the fact that neither of them were particularly awake at that point.

It was a miracle Adrien managed to notice what he noticed.

It was when Marinette leaned her head back to rest on the backrest that he noticed something about her appearance felt... _off_. And after analyzing her (he was _not_ checking her out) he found just what exactly irritated him.

"Don't you normally always wear earrings?"

"Earrings?" Marinette frowned, looking at him in confusion. "No?" She shot him a glance, before paying attention to the screen once more. No? But...he had been sure..! Oh well, if she said so, maybe he was mistaken. Maybe she just wore them occasionally and he just happened to notice them on those moments.

Surely, it didn't matter.

**.o.O.o.**

It had been two weeks. Two long, agonizing weeks.

Two weeks that told Master Fu all he needed to know. Ladybug was no more. Hawkmoth had gotten her Miraculous and Chat Noir was in denial, shouting his Lady's name from the rooftops in a desperate search for a girl that was undoubtedly just another clueless Parisian, going on with life as if nothing had happened.

Master Fu had never felt more torn when it came to the identity rule – if they had revealed themselves, would Chat Noir be able to find Marinette? Or would she have told the Akuma Chat Noir's real identity?

Well, it was too late now. Now it wasn't the time to worry. Now was the time to find Marinette and figure out how much she still remembered. Now was the time to speak to Chat Noir. Now was the time for action. He had already waited for too long, but, he too, was an optimist and it was only once he heard Chat Noir's desperate please at night that he admitted that something had gone terribly wrong.

"Wayzz, it is time to visit a certain bakery, don't you think?", Master Fu murmured, sipping his tea. His usual calm demeanor had vanished and the cup he was holding was shaking ever so slightly. At the sound of his voice, the turtle Kwami looked at him, tearing his gaze from the outside world that looked so different now. Less people, more robots. No one left the house anymore unless absolutely necessary.

Robots could be scary. Mind control could be strong.

"Let's just hope she's still there", he murmured, before slipping into the pockets of Master Fu's cargo pants.

And then they were off. Just to be met with an empty room and hopeful smiles of two parents that didn't realize in just how much danger their daughter was.

**.o.O.o.**

A pair of earrings. Spotted, black on red.

It weren't the real ones, of course not. Just a cheap imitation. Just yet another way of humiliation. Or so he told himself. Maybe, once he had the Black Cat Miraculous too, he'd reverse all of this – though having the control that he had _was_ nice – and she'd remember and then she might look at those earrings and he'd have his revenge.

Or so he told himself.

Was it petty? Yes. Did he feel...dirty doing this? Maybe. She was just a teenager after all, but she had kept the one thing that could safe his wife from him and he'd never forgive her. Which was the only reason why he had made someone make those earrings. Obviously.

"Did you enjoy the first two weeks of your internship, Madamoiselle Dupain-Cheng?"

She was yet again sitting in his office under the pretense of work.

It wasn't work related. Gabriel Agreste had simply found himself highly irritated by the lack of earrings she was wearing. He didn't know _why_ he felt that way – the fact she wasn't wearing any earrings should fill him with glee.

But it didn't. It felt him with an emotion he couldn't name (or maybe he didn't _want_ to name) and he didn't like it one bit. Plus, he had caught his son starring at the girl's earlobes several times already and the gesture filled Gabriel with panic. So, Gabriel decided if her not wearing any earrings didn't have the desired effect, he might as well see what would happen if he made her wear false ones.

A new pair of earrings was made quickly and luckily, he controlled all of Paris. It wouldn't even be difficult for him to get her to wear it.

Once Marinette left his office again, she was proudly wearing a Gabriel original piece of jewelry that would hopefully throw anyone off of her trail.

And hopefully, they'd help him too. Feel happy, that was. Because, obviously, he was doing this out of spite.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I ended up not waiting. Well, anyway, here's chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoyed! 
> 
> If you did, please consider to leave a comment, I love to hear you guys' thoughts!
> 
> Read you later  
> Bluestpaw


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello there. Nice to see you back.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is by far the longest chapter (and will hopefully be the longest one in this story - it'S 12k and that'S just a tony, teeny bit too much) and we finally get some fluff. Chapter four is almost done too and should come next week (hopefully? Unless I mess it up again?).
> 
> On a different note, next week I will be travelling to lookat some apartements that I may move to if everything works out - so please wish me good luck ^^ (and enjoy the chapter!)

* * *

**What if all of Paris forgets?  
Chapter Three**

* * *

Carefully, Chat Noir slipped down from the roof, cautiously glancing over his shoulder, scanning the darkness surrounding him. After a second of hesitation he jumped into the alley, landing softly on his feet, his eyes quickly flickering from one place to another.

And then he froze. Stared wide-eyed at the pair of glowing red eyes momentarily pinning him to his place. For a split second, neither of them, cat or robot, moved, but then, Chat Noir scrambled back up the roof, panic written all over his face and vanished back into the night, leaving behind an empty alley once again.

Stop.

Back.

Replay.

Chat Noir carefully slipped down from a nearby roof. He used the rain pipe to slip down into the alley, a blue sign reading "Rue de…".

Gabriel couldn't make out the full name. Scowling, he closed his laptop and stared at it menacingly for good measure.

Chat Noir, as it turned out, was more stubborn than he had originally anticipated. And it was frustrating. Annoyingly frustrating.

It had been weeks since his half-victory and Gabriel slowly grew restless. The pesky cat simply refused to accept defeat and to give up his Miraculous like the good kitty he was supposed to be. Instead, he preferred to slink through dirty alleys and over Paris' rooftops, trying to find a girl that didn't even remember him. All he had accomplished so far was getting himself spotted - the footage on Gabriel's laptop was proof of that - and creating pesky rumours that made people whisper and speculate.

Hawkmoth didn't fear to lose control in the least, but whispering people were concerning nonetheless and he preferred it if those rumours would be gone already. They were unpredictable after all and so _damn_ persistent. The Controller had already "adviced" the city to stop gossiping, but news like that was interesting and mysterious and not that easily dropped. They'd have to neutralize the source to effectively stop the whispering.

And thus, all patrols in Paris were alerted to the cat and had to monitor his movement. So far, no pattern had been discerned and Gabriel grew impatient.

It was an insult, really. After all, those heroes had promised to keep Paris safe no matter the cost and now all Chat Noir had to do to free his city was to hand over his ring.

But he didn't. Instead he chased silly hopes.

It was truly frustrating.

Gabriel's eyes fell on another laptop, showing more footage, this one centered around the hunched over form of his newest intern.

She was probably sketching during her lunch break again, a strange habit that she seemed to have developed while still being in school. A smile graced Gabriel's lips, that vanished once he remembered just who exactly that intern was.

It would be easy, using the ladybug girl as a bargaining chip, but he refused to do so. There had to be another way, one that didn't include her getting hurt.

His eyes fell back onto his second laptop.

He opened it again. Played the footage yet another time.

Chat sled into the alley. Stared directly at the robot. Vanished into the night.

Gabriel let out a snarl and turned away. This didn't do. This simply didn't do. He had to do more if he wanted results.

The buttons were pressed quickly. The transformation was called for even faster.

"Controller, I have yet another favor to request from you...One, I'm very sure, you won't mind at all..."

**.o.O.o.**

"Mom? Mo-om? MOM!"

Impatiently, a young girl called for her mother, tapping her fingers against the couch's leaning and waiting for an answer.

God, why did parents always have to take so _long_?!

"What is it, sweetie?", a high-pitched voice responded not soon after.

"The broadcast is about to start!"

"Just turn on the TV already! I'll join you in a minute!"

Satisfied with the answer, the young girl sat back down on the couch and started to wildly press buttons in blind excitement until the TV was turned on and a jingle started playing.

It was almost time.

"Mum! Hurry up now!"

"I'm coming!"

One could hear rummaging in the kitchen and then a yelp, but the girl didn't pay any attention to it. Instead, her eyes were glued to the TV screen. Occasionally, she glanced at her phone, too.

Like usual, Alec, the host, started updating everyone on the newest stats. 52 people had needed to be relocated into a re-education camp on the outskirts of Paris. Three people had been put down due to resistance against arrest. Four new pieces of advice were supposed to be announced today.

The girl took her phone out. Started texting her friends about the news.

> |The arrests are at an alltime high! Can't believe it!

She snatched her glass of water and took a sip while she waited for her friends to respond.

> |Uff, almost forget.
> 
> |Turning on the TV now.

A few minutes later, the girl's mother joined her, holding her own glass. It was water too, alcohol had been one of the first things to be adviced against.

By now, Alec was done with listing numbers and went on to inform all citizens of old pieces of advice that were still relevant today - though they were shortened from from the original phrasing. No one had time to hear the full sayings unless they wanted to stay up all night, which they shouldn't, because having a healthy sleep schedule was important, according to the Controller.

(Obviously, the girl knew the original phrasing anyway - they got tested in them every single day to make sure they knew how to lead a safe and healthy life after all.)

Trying her best to sit in a way her mother wouldn't notice her phone, the girl texted with her friends throughout the recap - it wasn't interesting. She'd start paying attention once the Controller announced something again. If he did at all that was. He had stopped showing up roughly a week ago, stating that he'd rather concentrate on enforcing rather than giving new advice and that right now there wasn't much to say anyway. The mayor himself had named him chief of police and put him in charge of saving Paris from its own citizens.

The broadcast kept going without much more to it. The girl kept staring at her phone, which kept lighting up with each new message. There were plenty of them and she'd lie if she'd say she had read every single one of them, but it didn't keep her from noticing one that was a bit more out of the ordinary.

> |Do you think they'll talk about that weird cat guy?
> 
> |I was told they will
> 
> |Did you guys even hear about him?

The weird cat boy? Of course, the girl had heard of him. Everyone had. He wasn't necessarily quiet, just like a real cat actually, and no one really knew what his deal was.

The girl frowned, then she narrowed her eyes and began typing:

> Stop spreading rumours!

It had been one of the first pieces of advice the controller had given them. He himself had told them a story of how he had been a victim of a nasty rumour once and how much a simple lie could ruin someone's life. It was an interesting and important tale and kept her from participating in the speculating about what exactly that guy was doing.

> |I'm not spreading rumours
> 
> | I just want to know what's the deal with the guy.
> 
> |he's weird tho running round in his catsuit

That much was true. He was weird. Really, really weird.

> |I'm low-key feel sorry for him. Wonder who that ladybug girl is

> |same here. Still weird tho. Do you think the Controller will help him find her?

> |He sound sso desperate and it breaks my heart every single time

The girl hesitated before responding to her friends' messages.

That was true too. She had heard him, not too many nights ago and whispers ( _whispers_ not rumours!) had talked about him all the time, about his weird habits and the utter desperation in his voice (and maybe, just maybe, about his good looks).

They pitied him. Everyone pitied him. The cat showed up on top of Paris' roofs every single night without fail and screamed someone's name.

No one knew whose name exactly or who this mysterious ladybug was, but most of Paris seemed to be sure that it was a girl and that the cat was very deeply in love with her.

And, that she had vanished.

Paris rooted for the, from what she had gathered. Wanted Chat Noir, as he had been dubbed (and it just… _fit_ ), to find his lady. Wanted him to be happy. And even though the girl strictly avoided spreading rumours she couldn't help but hope that he'd find her some day.

Which was not to say she agreed with what he did. Shouting was illegal after all. So was staying up after dark.

(The girl had a strong inkling he did, in fact, not possess a permit exempting him from this advice - though such thoughts themselves were against the Controller advice too, so she should probably stop thinking them).

> |Guys concentrate

> |The Controller will arrive any time now

> |I really hope they help thta guy!

Immediately, the girl put her phone away and stared at the television once more. She sat up straighter, squaring her shoulders and smoothed out her blouse in an attempt to look more presentable.

Which was stupid, if course. The Controller couldn't look through your screen after all.

He couldn't, right?

Right?

She smoothed out her blouse once more and then stared at the TV

He usually simply said he agreed with the sentiment of all the things that the mayor had said. That this was, indeed, the advice he gave all of them. That this was what Paris needed to stay safe.

After that the broadcasts usually ended and people went on with their life, reassured that everything was right. Was today going to be the same? The girl hoped they would talk about the cat guy. She really hoped they'd help him too. She excitedly started fidgeting, her eyes alight with hope.

Rumours were bad but who could possibly resist the urge of a good story? It was just so cute after all!

The mayor started talking. She put her phone away and started paying attention.

They announced new advice. Talked about what things to take into consideration when doing stuff. The usual.

And then, finally, they made _the_ announcement.

The girl leaned in closer.

"The past few weeks, a masked individual donning cat ears and a black leather outfit has been spotted around the city, going against several pieces of advice given to us by the Controller himself. Aside from his disturbance of Paris' peace and order, he turned out to be a despicable villain… "

The girl's eyes grew wide. V-v-villain?!

"...who is looking for his accomplice, a girl known as "Ladybug"."

She stared at the TV, mouth hanging open (and if she had looked at her mother, she would have seen her posture mirrored).

They-They were...villains? She was his _accomplice?!_ But that didn't make any sense! He-he...he had seemed so…nice? Desperate? Lost? Not like a dangerous villain out to ruin Paris at all! Plus, she didn't even _remember_ him! This…this had to be a misunderstanding!

There was _no way_ that Chat Noir was a villain! He-he just seemed so, so… _heroic_!

"Ladybug has secretly been apprehended by the Controller himself. She has been neutralized several weeks ago and was turned into a law-abiding citizen once more. Chat Noir is still on the loose and we ask all citizens to avoid him at any cost."

The girl fell back, not really believing what the mayor was saying. This...This had to be a misunderstanding!

"If, by any chance, Chat Noir is watching this, we beg you to stop. We beg you to see reason. The Controller himself is willing to work out a deal with you. If you are interested, and you should, we will wait for you every Friday at 22.00 at the Notre Dame. We implore you to be there. And now, ladies and gentleman, the Controller will speak to…"

And suddenly, without a single warning, the TV turned of. The girl blinked. So did her mother. And then both of them shot up, frantically trying to get it to work again.

It didn't.

They tried some more, but it didn't help and eventually, the mother got up with a huff.

"I'll call dad. Maybe he knows what to do."

She disappeared into a different part of the house and the girl was left in the room with a phone that was blowing up with countless of notifications and a TV that kept her from hearing the important things on her own.

> |Of course he's a criminal! What else should he be?!

> |Ugh and I was rooting for them!

> |Theyre so disgusting! How dare they try to ruin our city?!

The girl read all of them and they made her stomach churn. Something…something was off. Was wrong. She just… Chat Noir Was supposed to be bad? A criminal even?

She almost typed "I can't believe it" but decided against it.

She didn't want to criticise the Controller after all. She was just a stupid girl and he was…was…almost a god!

That didn't make it any easier to believe though. Maybe this was all just a mistake? A joke? But then again, the Controller was never wrong and evidently, he was going to agree with the mayor's words, so…

So it was true. Chat Noir was bad. The knowledge hurt, for some unknown reason, but the Controller couldn't be wrong.

**.o.O.o.**

She didn't believe it.

Marinette stared at the television in her room, which had been specifically programmed to turn on at scheduled times, and she stared at it in disbelieve.

She just…She didn't believe it. Simple as that. This…This wasn't true. It-It just couldn't be! Whatever had happened, whatever had been said, even if the Controller himself had insisted that Chat Noir was nothing but a criminal, it wasn't true.

She had heard him plenty of times, had heard the desperation in his voice, calling for his lady (somehow that phrasing sounded weirdly familiar - in fact, it had made her fondly respond with a murmured "that mangy alley cat" once much to her own surprise).

She wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen him once too.

Not that it mattered. Because even if she hadn't seen him, she simply _knew_ this wasn't true.

Which was weird. She had never gotten to know him after all. In fact, she hadn't even talked to him before. But something…something made her feel like this broadcast wasn't true.

It wasn't the first time this had happened either. There had been plenty of times in which Marinette had frowned in confusion at a piece of advice that sounded unnecessary restrictive, though she quickly pushed all thoughts of doubt aside again.

This was the Controller she was criticising after all.

But this...She couldn't. She just couldn't believe it. This went too far.

And for some reason, this strange insistence of her brain that Chat Noir wasn't bad, that he was in fact her friend and would never hurt someone willingly, was enough for her to rule out the Controller's, the Controller's!, words.

She didn't want to believe him. She didn't like half the rules she suddenly had to follow anyway! This was all so weird and had happened so suddenly and there was noway Chat Noir was a criminal.

But Marinette also knew that those thoughts were weird and probably wrong, so she quickly schooled her expression once more.

It didn't matter. She couldn't do anything against it anyway. So she might as well just keep quiet.

" _All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing."_

Huh. What a weird thing to think about right now. Alya had been talking about Chloé after all and surely, the Controller wasn't evil!

**.o.O.o.**

Adrien had thought that he was doing ok. That he was going to be fine and that he'd find her eventually. Of course, his hopefulness had been lessened by the weeks of nothing turning up and, of course, he was feeling miserable. But he was hopeful nonetheless. Had always known there'd be a light at the end of the tunnel.

He had always been that way. He had always been optimistic. Had it been in his quest for his lady's heart or when it came to waiting for his dad. Adrien simply wasn't able to be pessimistic.

It didn't mean he didn't see the truth though. He very much knew that Ladybug wasn't interested in him (yet). He knew his father would probably cancel most dinners (but just most!).

But it didn't keep him from hoping. It never had. But now? Staring at his TV screen, listening to the mayor's speech, sent a chill down his spine.

"Ladybug has secretly been apprehended by the Controller himself. She has been neutralized several weeks ago and was turned into a law-abiding citizen once more."

Ladybug had been defeated. This sudden reality hit hard. She wasn't hiding. She wasn't mad.

She was _gone_. And he hadn't been there to save her.

Adrien slept terribly that night, even worse than usual.

He couldn't even cry because all that he felt was numbness.

The worst was, he didn't even know what had happened. They had to have taken her Miraculous, right?

"If, by any chance, Chat Noir is watching this, we beg you to stop. We beg you to see reason. The Controller himself is willing to work out a deal with you. If you are interested, and you should, we will wait for you every Friday at 22.00 at the Notre Dame. We implore you to be there. And now, ladies and gentleman, the Controller will speak to…"

The worst was, that he didn't even know what it meant. She must have been caught, right? But…did she not remember him? Did she simply _hate_ him now? Did she believe every foul word that spew form this…this _maniac's_ mouth?

Chat didn't know which thought was worse. He didn't want her to hate him. He didn't want her to forget him either. And he didn't even know what he was supposed to do next. Could he try to find her? Make a list of all the tidbits of her life that she had let him glimpse at during the time they had fought together?

He ended up making the list, knowing he didn't have any other option. And then he stared at it.

It wasn't much. As much as he knew his _lady,_ he didn't know her _life_.

But it didn't stop him. He kept thinking about it for days, sleeping less and less to the point that his father had ordered him to take sleeping pills.

Sometimes, it almost seemed as if he had a bad consciousness.

After a week they started adjusting his diet and Adrien knew he was running himself ragged. Plagg refused to transform him and although Adrien knew nothing could really stop him, he also knew he wasn't fine so he listened to the Kwami.

Plagg meant well after all. And it wasn't like he had a plan of action.

And it scared him.

He stopped talking to people. Went through his daily schedule like a robot, unable to truly take his mind off of the _thing_.

He snapped at Marinette once more and hated himself for it, because she looked so unsure in that moment and he promised himself he'd visit her again and he'd apologise, _again_ , but he didn't because he was too exhausted or too busy staring at his list and then it was too late.

He caught himself relieving their second movie night. It was the last time he had felt truly happy.

More than once he caught himself glancing out of the window, in the direction of the Notre Dame wondering whether he was doing the right thing. He'd glance at the ring on his finger, playing with the thought of handing it over.

It was the only thing that could ever get her back and he knew it. Having the one thing that could end this nightmare and knowing he couldn't give it up was a terrible feeling, maybe even worse than having lost his lady, maybe even worse than knowing that _he had failed her_.

Because he _had_ failed her. He had been knocked out of the fight. He had left her alone against a foe so much stronger than all the ones that they had faced before. He had failed first and Ladybug had paid the price.

It was one of these times, that he was staring out of the window, turning the ring in his finger, that Plagg found him contemplating and completely lost it.

"Don't you dare! Don't you fuckin dare, Adrien!"

That tiny god flew up to him, right in his face while he screamed angrily at him.

"She's safe, kid! Didn't you hear the mayor?! How _fucking_ dare you even think about this?!"

Adrien had heard the mayor. Plenty of times. He had recorded the speech and repeated it every single day before he went to sleep.

Maybe that was what was causing the daily nightmares.

"What the hell do you think will happen if you give up the ring?! Do you even know what Hawkass wants?! How do you even know they'll set her free once you go there?!"

Adrien wanted to disagree, wanted to tell him he was wrong in his reasoning but he knew that Plagg was right.

But he didn't want to admit that. This was the only lead he had gotten in more than a month.

A month. A month in which Paris had had to suffer.

"People…people are suffering, Plagg!"

He pointed at his television, one of the broadcasts playing in the background desperation leading his voice a sharp edge.

"They're … They are _dying_! I-I can't stand by and do nothing! I can't…

" These people won't come back either without Ladybug, Adrien! Whatever you do, promise me to never take off that ring! You got _it_?! _Promise_ _me_!"

Adrien promised. And then he went to bed.

Not without watching that wretched recording though and Plagg hated every second of it.

**.o.O.o.**

It was a chance encounter. Plagg had offered him a deal and Adrien had willingly accepted. He was allowed to go out once every three days if he stopped watching the broadcasts and recordings.

The exact phrasing was already burnt into his memories anyway.

Chat hadn't even been looking for Ladybug at that time. He had simply needed to leave the mansion, had tried to relive that excitement that used to spark whenever he transformed.

It was a small comfort but Adrien reveled in it. He pretended that he was on solo patrol today, went as far as looking for one of Ladybug's old voice mails, informing him that she couldn't make it today.

He used to hate those, but today he couldn't help but listen to them twice, be it to just hear her voice again.

He raced across Paris' rooftops and then..

And then he saw her.

Midnightblue hair. Twintails with red ribbons in them. Pale skin that seemed to shine in the moonlight.

Just the right height.

He froze. Had he, had he…?

He had.

He had found her.

He had found her!

For a second, Chat Noir simply stared at the girl that hurried along the street, her eyes glued to the floor.

First, Chat Noir froze.

And then he ran after her.

Around corners he went, keeping an eye on the girl, trying to figure out where she lived, where she was going. She was hugging a purse close to her body, but not once did she glance over her shoulder,not once did she show him her face.

She looked tense.

Chat Noir didn't know whether it was because of him or because of the curfew. If it was him he was sorry, but he couldn't help it - this…this was the closest he had gotten to a lead so far.

He couldn't give up.

Several times now he had tried to scale a wall and approach her, look at her, question her just _hoping_ that she was indeed his lady, but the robots kept coming and not once there was an opening.

He was so close. So incredibly close and he knew for a fact that his heart was beating too fast in his chest.

And then there was the blockade. And the robots that broke free and headed off in his direction.

He managed to lose them fairly quickly, but once he turned around, the girl was gone.

At first, Chat simply didn't believe it. He simply kept looking until Plagg forced a detransformation and Adrien begged, _begged,_ him to let him keep looking because she was out there and so, _so_ close and he just couldn't do it without her!

Plagg silently shook his head. But he let him transform anyway.

He didn't find her again. Not after shouting her name for hours from the rooftops, not after scanning _every street of Paris twice._

Ladybug was nowhere to be found.

It was only when he had to detransfrom a second time and he saw Plagg panting that Adrien finally stopped looking.

"Kid…"

"I was _so_ close, Plagg! I-I almost found her and-and now..!"

The small cat simply smiled sadly.

"We have to go home kid. You can't stay out here untransformed. We need to go home and tomorrow you can try again."

They did go home.

Both of them fell asleep within five minutes.

And Adrien cursed himself the next morning, because instead of worrying about his lady, he dreamed about blue hair that was let down instead of being in pigtails for some reason.

He didn't get much time to think about it though.

"Your father will join you for breakfast today, Adrien. Please get ready as quickly as possible."

It was Natalie's voice that tore him from his grim thoughts.

He didn't answer and instead got ready silently. Plagg was still sleeping and Adrien couldn't blame him after begging the Kwami to transform him three times yesterday.

He should make sure to get him some extra camembert for his troubles.

Breakfast was a silent affair. Adrien didn't dare to look at Marinette (he knew it was irrational to be mad at her and hell, she didn't even know he was mad at her and if she did, she couldn't even possibly understand _why_ he was mad at her but she had invaded his dreams for some reason and that _wasn't ok_ ) and his father didn't say much.

At last, Gabriel asked him how he had slept. He did, however, ignore Adrien's obvious lie that he had slept well. So did Natalie. Marinette shoved one of her pastries that her parents had delivered early in the morning aside and glanced at him worriedly.

He was almost sure she'd give it to him once his father had left the room.

He wanted to smile, but he felt too exhausted to do so, so instead he glanced at her and mouthed a quick "Thank you" before glancing away again.

Adrien felt uneasy throughout the entire affair. Because _they_ were eating. Adrien still needed to get used to his father joining him regularly and, well, caring about him.

Not, that his father hadn't cared before, but he had never been one to really express it.

It was creepy. But maybe the Controller had "adviced" something along the lines of "Thou shall treat your children like family."

"Adrien."

He _knew_ it! He knew there was more to it!

"Yes, father?"

"Where were you yesterday evening?"

Panicked, Adrien looked up, before swallowing his food.

What was he supposed to say now? He...He had been out as Chat Noir!

Why had his father checked in on him in the first place anyway?!

"I…uhm...I was in the bathroom?"

Natalie looked at him with a piercing gaze and even his father took a second to look at him.

"Why didn't you answer when you were called?"

"I fell asleep?"

"Are you not taking your medication?"

Darn. He had forgotten about the sleeping pills.

"I do! I do, I...just have...nightmares. A lot of them! I keep waking up in the middle of the night."

The moment Adrien had finished his answer, his head snapped down again and he stared at the food on his plate that he still hadn't really touched.

His father didn't react directly. Instead, he took his time to finish his meal before staring at his son again, taking in his appearance.

That just wouldn't do. They couldn't properly conceal the bags beneath his eyes and photoshopping them out would be an additional hazard.

It just wouldn't do if he were sick.

"What kind of nightmares?"

"I-I don't know. Don't remember them. I just know that they wake me up."

Adrien didn't like lying, especially not to his father, especially not if said father chose to finally show some compassion,but he didn't have much of a choice.

Adrien didn't dare to look at his father's face and glanced away, catching Marinette's expression. It was even more worried than before and she had pushed aside a second pastry, carefully cutting off the piece that she had already taken a bite out of.

He really needed to apologise for snapping at her once again. And he needed to thank her for all the kindness she had shown him.

"Very well…"

His father cleared his throat and got up, his chair screeching when shoved across the floor.

"I will talk to your doctor about it. Maybe he has a solution for your…nightmares."

For a second, it almost looked like Gabriel wanted to say something, his eyes cast away from him in guilt.

But then he simply nodded.

"I am needed in my office. Have a nice day, both of you."

Gabriel left, leaving Adrien, Marinette and Natalie behind. Patiently, both children waited for Natalie to leave the room too. And she did, not too soon after, but not without glaring at Marinette before shooting a suspicious expression at Adrien.

It only stayed there for a second before it disappeared again and she, too, left but it was enough to make Adrien feel uneasy.

Shivering, he stared after her, even when the door fell closed and her steps fell silent.

Someone nudging his side pulled him back into reality.

He almost lashed out again, but then stopped, eyes wide open when he saw Marinette tentatively smiling at him and shoving the two pastries in his direction.

"For you", she said softly, before retreating back to her place, seemingly unwilling to disturb him any more.

Adrien simply gaped at her. It wasn't the first time she had shared her pastries with him, but he had snapped at her again and hadn't even apologised and he had always thought that Marinette was one to hold a grudge (of course it didn't make much sense, but he never could get it out of his mind that she still disliked him and what other reason could there be than a grudge?).

But here she was. Sharing her pastries with him.

It was the nicest thing anyone had done for him this last month.

"Are…Are you sure? I don't want to eat your breakfast…"

"Of course! I'm not that hungry anyway!"

Marinette positively beamed at him and Adrien did his best to smile back, though he wasn't sure if it worked.

He casted another look in her direction before tentatively taking a bite out of the chocolate croissant (he closed his eyes when he ate it and may or may not have moaned at the tastiness of it - he was hungry he knew that, but somehow he only ever willingly ate Marinette's parents' food willingly).

He watched as Marinette got herself another pastry, happily devouring it and the action startled him.

Her parents had definitely packed more food today than they usually did.

The realization almost sucker punched him.

Marinette didn't just _share_ her pastries with him. She had asked her parents for _more,_ just so he could have some too.

That moment was the closest he got to a smile in a long time.

(An annoying voice in his head pointed out it was his first smile ever since the last movie night, but he decided to ignore that voice.)

(It sounded like Plagg anyway, so its opinion didn't matter.)

**.o.O.o.**

Marinette still didn't know why Mister Agreste had asked her to stay out longer the past few days, but she was too afraid to question him. He had given her a permit to stay out after the curfew after all, although he had asked her to come home as quickly as possible.

She hadn't dared to question that either.

And now he suddenly didn't want her to pick up documents from the office anymore.

Weird.

But she was glad. Yesterday had been…scary. She had felt observed. Not necessarily _stalked_ because she didn't feel like whoever was following her had bad intentions, but she had felt uncomfortable nonetheless.

Not that there was a reason to feel unsafe. Paris was safe after all, she knew for sure because she passed plenty of patrols on her way home.

At some point there even was this huge blockade and then five robots broke loose and ran the way she had come from.

She didn't feel observed anymore after that incident.

Maybe they had found whoever had been following her.

**.o.O.o.**

Alya hadn't meant to look into her phone's history. She hadn't meant to check every single folder on her memory card. However, she had meant to find that one picture Nino had sent her for the class project. Alya was supposed to do it with Marinette, but she was basically out of the picture due to her internship. Which had left her all on her own.

(It would have caused more trouble, but the Controller himself had stepped in to make sure everything went smoothly and if the Controller was of the opinion that this was the way to go, who was she to doubt him?)

Strangely enough, Nino hadn't had a partner yet, so Madame Bustier had put them into a group together and now they had to hurry to get everything done on time - Nino apparently hadn't known he was supposed to have a partner and now they had to combine their projects into one.

So, maybe, they had pulled an all-nighter just the day before handing in the project. And maybe, Alya had been just _a bit_ sleep deprived (she had to make sure no one noticed – especially not the robots. The Controller had insisted that having a healthy sleeping schedule was important and she didn't want to be relocated to one of the care homes that helped people adjust) and she had panicked.

And now she was confused.

But how else should she feel?! The videos she found just didn't make _sense_! They showed the villain Chat Noir and a girl, seemingly his age, dressed in a red suit adorned with black spots (was that this mysterious Ladybug everyone was talking about?) and they were _fighting_ someone. That someone looked weird, like a witch almost and she was riding a...broomstick? Motorcycle? What was that? And _how_ was it even staying up in the air? It was flying for crying out loud!

The woman? Grandma? Witch? seemed to be called Befana from what Alya gathered from the footage and she seemed to have it out for the two superheroes.

But, much more worrying, for Marinette too. Now that she knew, Alya had to admit that she looked quite a lot like Marinette's grandmother. But… That wasn't possible right?

Of course not.

But something was wrong. As much as she tried to deny it, something had happened. And Alya would figure out how.

How the hell had those two, those two _villains_ managed to manipulate her? What had they done to Marinette's grandmother? And _why_ didn't she remember the girl?

Time to find out.

And if Alya was good at one thing, it was at finding things out (thought she still didn't know why there was a voice inside her head telling her that the Controller was lying).

**.o.O.o.**

"Something isn't right" was all Chat Noir could think about while sprinting over Paris' rooftops.

"Something simply isn't right."

But he didn't know what and everything _seemed_ normal. The Eiffel tower still stood, the people still went their merry way and there was yet again an Akuma on the loose.

Maybe the only thing out of the ordinary was the fact that this one wasn't as easily defeated as, let's say, Mr. Pigeon.

(How often die Hawkmotnh plan on akumatizing poor Mr. Ramier?!)

In fact, this specific Akuma wasn't easily defeated at all. Chat himself was already on his second transformation and he knew that this one wasn't going to hold much longer either. He had needed to drop the last one to keep his Lady from getting hit by that weird beam (god knows what that did to you) and judging from the way she was looking at her second Lucky charm, he guessed he may have to use his Cataclysm for the same thing.

They were weird though. The first Lucky Charm had been a tea cup with a 福 engraved on it.

Fu. Good fortune. Blessing. What could it possibly mean? The way the character stood out seemed to be an important detail (the cup wasn't spotted because of it after all), but why, Chat Noir didn't know.

The second Lucky Charm, the one she was staring at in confusion right now, wasn't much more straightforward either. Though, the Chinese Vase did keep up the theme they were apparently going for today.

He wondered why? Had Ladybug changed her tastes in ornaments and aesthetics? Hey, maybe she was even Chinese!

Well, he didn't get much time to think about it. A well-timed "Chat! Watch out!" send him dodging another one of those beams (did they paralyze people? The ones that had been hit just stopped moving - though their eyes seemed to be glued to the Controller).

Other than that the Akuma apparently wanted control they hadn't figured out anything else about it.

The Akuma had insisted that everything would be so much better if everyone would simply _listen_ to what he said and that they should just hand over their Miraculous' already because it was for the best.

No more Chat Noir and Ladybug meant no more Akumas either. So why struggle?

Ladybug had then repeated what she had said to Hawkmoth at the beginning of their fight (with just as much valor - she was simply incredible!) before telling Chat Noir to hide and feed his Kwami.

This had happened roughly half an hour ago.

And now it seemed to repeat itself.

"Relocate! We both need to recharge! And then we need a new plan because this one just isn't cutting it..."

"Right behind you, bugaboo!"

He hoped across a few rooftops before looking down into one of the alleys. It was empty and no one seemed to have spotted him.

Chat Noir slid down a rain pipe, before calling his transformation off and holding out a piece of cheese to Plagg.

"Hurry up, Plagg. I can't let Lb wait for too long, who knows what could go wrong!"

Of course, Chat knew that, technically speaking, she could very well handle herself, but he _had_ to help her.

He just had to.

"Slow down, Loverboy. You'll see "your Lady" again soon enough"..."

"Plagg, hurry up already!"

The Kwami simply snickered in response, before downing the piece of Camembert in one go and then slowly stretching.

"Seems like this Akuma is giving you some trouble. Just _what_ is it doing?"

"We don't know yet Plagg. It's shooting beams and keeps moping around, but doesn't really have a goal. Now are you ready?"

"Already? Can't a cat just eat his cheese in pe…" "Plagg, claws on!"

Five seconds later and he had transformed yet again, muscles complaining when he hopped up on the roof. For a second he hissed at the sudden light environment and closed his eyes and when he opened them again…

He woke up.

For a second, Adrien lay there, frozen on his bed.

Stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

It had been a dream. The images he had seen were nothing but a stupid dream.

He hadn't found his lady.

They weren't fighting another Akuma.

"Plagg…", Adrien whispered, slowly moving his head to the side.

He didn't get an answer.

He didn't call his kwami's name a second time either.

Surprisingly, he didn't even cry. He just stared off into the distance, thoughts racing as he grasped at the remnants of his dream.

Her smile. The way she stared at her Lucky Charm, stubborn determination blazing in her eyes.

Her voice.

God, Adrien hadn't even realized how much he missed her voice (maybe he should have known, considering he listened to her old voice mails).

And her smile.

And pout.

And smirk.

And the glistening in her eyes sometimes.

He missed it all and it had been so close and now it was gone.

"Plagg?" he whispered again. This time, his Kwami stirred.

"Yes?"

"Can-Can I hold you? Ju-Just for a bit! Not for long! And I'll get you some e…"

A warm weight appeared at his side. Plagg butted against his arm and, once the obstacle had been pushed aside, started to wiggle into his side.

Started to purr.

"It's OK, kid."

Adrien felt his eyes tear up.

The burning sensation told him he was not yet tipping over the edge.

It wasn't unusual for Adrien to cuddle something. He used to sneak into his parents room all the time when he felt scared or unhappy or worried. His father had never truly approved of this particular habit of his (not after he turned seven, that was), but his mother hadn't cared.

It hadn't been a surprise when his father had told him to cease those nightly visits once she had disappeared.

(And there was a voice in him that told him that his father was _right,_ that he was _14,_ that he really shouldn't need any help sleeping, but that voice, this once, didn't matter.)

There were no more nightly visits from then on. But there were plenty of stuffed ladybugs that may not be his mother, but they were there and he had taken comfort in them, when it was too late to roam as Chat Noir and the loneliness was drowning him again.

Sometimes Plagg indulged him too (he knew he was supposed to be more adult than having to take comfort in a stuffed animal, but holding something close to his heart was something he was so rarely allowed to do) and those were the moments in which Adrien truly realized just how much the little cat cared about him.

It was reassuring.

It almost made him smile.

"What happened kid?"

Sometimes the Kwami would even ask him about what was bothering him and Adrien appreciated it. He knew how hard it was for Plagg to give advice.

It was one of the reasons why Adrien never denied him an answer.

"A dream Plagg. I dreamed about _her._ I-I think it was a memory. Of the last Akuma attack. I-I saw her. We were running across rooftops and we were bantering and we… Sh-She was _there!_ I-I just want that back, Plagg. I just want _her_ back. Why can't it be like it was before?!"

Adrien didn't expect an answer. There wasn't an answer anyway. He knew that. Plagg knew that.

But Plagg had never intended to give an answer in the first place.

"You're being too hard on yourself, kid."

The black cat nuzzled closer to his charge trying his best to disperse any remnants of the dream (or nightmare, if anyone bothered to ask Plagg).

"I know what happened Plagg! I know! But….But I can't...I-I...I can't remember the important things! "

"Give it time, kid. Give it time. You've been hurt during the fight and you're going through a difficult patch right now…"

Adrien snorted at that and Plagg counted that as a win.

"...but hey, you remember something! Look kid, I'm not good at being all supporting and stuff…"

He really wasn't. And he may not be the most sensitive of all kwamis – that title belonged to his sugarcube – and he may not be the most articulate of them either – that title, too, belonged to Tikki – but it didn't mean he didn't care.

"...but I'm sure we'll find her eventually. We'll find her and then we will find her earrings and then, maybe, we'll even get to kick Hawkmoth's ass in person!"

Plagg tried to put as much optimism into his words as he could and stared at his chosen, hoping to elicit something akin to a smile from him.

He didn't.

Well, if he couldn't, maybe it was time to pull out the big guns.

"Hey, maybe pigtails's still awake!"

It was a shot in the dark, but the last time that Adrien had smiled had been when he had spent some time with the bakery girl.

Maybe it'd work again.

"Marinette? Why does it matter whether she's still awake or not?"

"She's a friend and exactly what you need right now."

Plagg looked pointedly at his charge, hoping that for once he would just do as he was told, but no such luck.

"I-I don't know, Plagg. I don't want to bother her and I haven't been the best friend as of lately. I should probably just leave her alone."

Asrien bit his lip and looked outside again, the moon clear against a midnight blue sky.

And the outline of two familiar towers equally easily seen.

"Plus, I can't risk getting distracted! I need…"

Plagg didn't let him finish his sentence, instead he puffed up his fur (was he trying to _intimidate_ him?) and glared at his chosen.

"No, what you can't risk is _not_ getting distracted", he hissed, his glare intensifying:"You're running yourself into the ground - you know it, don't you dare fight me on this, Adrien - and running yourself into the ground won't help anyone, least of all Ladybug."

"Plagg…"

The Kwami decided to ignore his chosen's protests.

"If you don't go over there _right now_ , I'll go there myself and blow your cover. Knowing pigtails, she'd probably try to talk you out of being a "villain" and wouldn't even rat you out! And now move and mope somewhere else, because, Camembert knows that I can't help you. You need some quality time spent with someone non-toxic and she's the only option you have!"

And that was how Adrien found himself in front of Marinette's room once more, in the middle of the night, hugging himself tightly.

He eyed the red mark on his pinkie worriedly, hoping that his father wouldn't question why he had a bite mark there.

For a second, Adrien looked at the door, cowering on front of it and biting his lip, before casting his eyes to the ground once more. He wished he could turn back, tell Plagg that Marinette was already asleep, but the light shining through on the bottom of the door told a different story.

Marinette was still awake. And the moment he'd knock she'd probably take him in,sacrificong he rown mental energy just to help some strange, rather rude boy out that she didn't even really know.

The worst was, that he'd probably even have a great time because Marinette was one of these people that just made you feel at home.

He didn't deserve to have a good time.

Eventually, Adrien knocked, hoping that she hadn't heard him (maybe she was listening to Jagged stone?) but no such luck. Approximately twenty seconds later the door was slammed open and a panicking Marinette stood on the doorframe,staring at him with wide-eyes.

She started rambling before he could even stutter as much as a "Hi".

"I'm terribly sorry, Mister Agreste! I'm sorry the design came out so horribly, I'm already on a new one, which, which I hope will be adequate - I-I mean good enough! Be-Because this is _Gabriel's_ and there's no way I'd ever be able to design something even re…re…"

Finally, Marinette looked up. Stopped rambling. Closed her mouth.

"Oh."

Marinette stared at him wordlessly for a few seconds before adding:

"You-You're not your father."

The corners of Adriens's lips twitched and if the circumstances were any different he may have smiled but the circumstances weren't different and he managed to still reign himself in.

So, instead of smiling, he opted for saying something, because Marinette was still simply staring at him, as if expecting him to rip off his face like a mask, revealing his father underneath who would then go on to lecture her.

"Uh, no. I…I'm not my father."

He didn't know what else to say (because he wasn't going to bother Marinette with his problems until she specifically asked him for them - the poor girl had enough going on right now on her own that she didn't need an additional burden), so he closed his mouth again and stared back at her.

(He knew it was rude but he didn't know what else to do and Plagg wouldn't stop bothering him until he had at least tried to tlak to Marinette - his Kwami could be as stubborn as Ladybug sometimes).

Luckily, life seemed to return to Marinette. Slowly, she blinked and then, as if someone had unfrozen her, she scrambled out of the way, opening the door wider in the process, her eyes huge in embarrassment and a light blush colouring her cheeks.

And then she started rambling, with her hand wildly flailing around in front of her face.

"I, uh, I… I'm sorry? I-I didn't mean to mix you up! Be-Because you two look _nothing_ alike, I mean, not like _nothing_ nothing, he's your father after all and your his son, but-but he's your _father_ and you're-you're a supermodel, I-I mean, I'm not saying that your father isn't good looking or anything, I mean, for his age! As an objective observation! Not, that I'm observing your father or anything! That-That'd be super creepy! And-And-AndI'mgoingtoshutupnowhowcanIhelpyou?!"

She tried to casually lean against the doorframe, but underestimated the distance and ended up almost tripping. Finally, she settled to fold her hands in front of her, lightly biting her lips and awkwardly plastered a smile on her face.

And Adrien...Adrien actually smiled this time (although, some may claim it had been more the shadow of a smile).

This was as Marinette as it could get. He'd lie if he'd say he hadn't missed this side of her.

Adrien was so engrossed in the fact that it was great to see her behave like this once more and in the many, happy memories that came with it (for some reason, with her around they weren't painful for once) that he completely forgot about the question she had asked.

(He was, after all, certified expert and understanding a rambling and stuttering Marinette, so of course he had caught her question.)

"A-Adrien?"

Her voice pulled him back into reality.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

Sheepishly, Adrien rubbed his neck, sneaking a glance at her. Curiously, she didn't seem mad at him. Instead she just looked…worried.

"I, uh, couldn't sleep, so, uh…"

He trailed off. So what? What was he going to tell her? Why would he go to her just because he couldn't sleep?! They were hardly friends!

He hadn't wanted to lie to her, but the nightmare seemed just a bit too personal to share (and too dangerous). Saying he couldn't sleep wasn't necessarily a lie, he knew he wouldn't be able to go to bed after that dream and he definitely wouldn't be able to fall asleep with a small god in his bed telling him to go visit her,but she didn't know and that left him without a reason for the impromptu visit.

But luckily, Marinette didn't need a reason to accept him.

"Oh, don't worry! I can't sleep either! Do you-Do you want to come inside? I'm sure we'll find a way to drive away those thoughts that are keeping you awake!"

And then she smiled at him and his entire world was ripped away from underneath his foot and now Adrien understood what Nino had meant when he had talked about her smile back, when he had had a crush on her.

Nino.

Adrien gulped and the moment was gone.

Marinette faltered when she saw the change in Adriens's expression, before shrugging, determination settling in her eyes. She may not know what was going on in his life, may not know _why_ he was suffering, but she'd do everything she possibly could do to make him feel better again.

She was a Dupain-Cheng after all and that's what Dupain-Chengs did.

"So, uh, come in! We can watch some movies again, if you want, or…or we can play Mecha Strike III!"

She stepped aside, gesturing for him to come in and Adrien followed her into the room.

"I picked up my console last weekend and we can play, if you want? Though, you should be warned, I happen to be a master at the game…"

A challenging smirk made its way onto her expression and Adrien felt himself thrown back into memory land once more.

It was the exact same expression she had worn during the gaming tournament, just before Gamer had attacked.

His expression fell again. Marinette noticed an sher eyes blew wide once more (good going, Mari, you're doing a _real_ good job here).

"Oh! Sorry! We can play something else if, if you'd rather play a less…competitive? Or-or violent game! I have some others too, some co-op games, some puzzle…"

"No, no, it's fine!"

Adrien stumbled forward a bit, trying his best to not sound rude.

"Mecha Strike is perfectly fine!"

Marinette's expression faltered and he knew she wasn't buying it.

"I, uh, just have some bad memories connected to that game…"

"We can play Street fighter? It's also a fighting game."

"It's more something situational!"

"We don't _have_ to play video games…"

"It's OK, Marinette really!", Adrien suddenly exclaimed, a bit more vehemently than before. She flinched back and stared at him bewildered, bit used to him bursting out like this.

"Really, don't worry, it's fine!"

Adrien stepped closer and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, a hand that made her seemingly freeze before eyeing it strangely and taking a step away from him.

"Well, I guess…", she replied hesitantly, before turning around and facing the couch in front of her TV, looking for eventual fabric or sketches that may block it. She didn't find any and turned back again.

"Uh…why don't you take a seat then while I prepare the game?"

For a second Marinette seemed to hesitate, before that dangerous glint was back in her eyes and she added with a smirk:

"And make sure you're sitting properly. Don't want you falling from the couch once I beat you into the ground…"

With an amused giggle she whilrsd back around again, stalking off towards some cabinets, while Adrien couldn't help but narrow his eyes at her.

She thought she was going to beat him into the ground? Oh, it was _on_.

**.o.O.o.**

Adrien really had thought that it was on. In that moment, with that challenge, he had been distracted enough.

But then he wasn't anymore.

There were just too many memories connected to the game and every time Marinette picked the Ladybug inspired bot he couldn't help but tear up or freeze. Every time that he picked the Chat Noir bot, he had to bite his lip, hoping that no one would recognize the similarities.

Adrien really wasn't at the top of his game (he thought about making that pun, but then he realized that Marinette _wasn't_ Ladybug and he shouldn't be punning without Ladybug here, because if he was punning, he was _happy_ and he wasn't allowed to be happy until he had found her) and Marinette didn't take long to notice. After the second fight she started going easy on him and holding back, trying to match the more evenly (though she always kept playing just a tad bit better than he did). She kept glancing at him worriedly and Adrien hated it, because _why_ should she be worried, _why_ did she have to suffer too, just because _he_ had messed up and…

"RED PLAYER WINS!"

Adrien focused on the screen in front of him again, staring at the television in bewilderment. He had…won?

"Good job!", Marinette cheered, smiling just a tad too innocently to be truly innocent.

Adrien gulped. She had let him win. Marinette had actually let him win because he was moping around.

And she was trying her hardest to make him feel good about it.

"Good work! How about we play something else now? You've won once and I, uh, have won once too so we're even!"

That was a lie, which, if it weren't for the fact that Adrien had counted how often he had lost already (a staggering six times that was), he would have figured from the light blush on Marinette's features and the way she was biting her lip.

She really wasn't a good liar.

And he wasn't going to ruin her evening any more than he was already doing.

"Uh, no, we're not", he responded, watching, almost gleefully, how Marinette's smile faltered and then changed to an embarrassed one.

"I still have to beat you an additional five times for that to happen…"

Her blush grew even redder.

"...and I fully plan on doing so."

He leaned in closer and tried his best to smile (he didn't try to _fake_ smile - he knew that didn't work with her) and she looked at him for a while, before hesitantly picking up her controller once more, casting one doubting look in his direction, before seemi fly coming to the conclusion he actually wanted to do this and wasn't just humouring her.

"Well, if you want, I guess…"

And she selected the ladybug bot again and he selected his.

This time, Adrien concentrated properly, giving it his all and won again, because, while normal Adrien stood no chance against normal Marinette, normal Adrien _did_ stand a chance against going-easy Marinette and she still hadn't adjusted.

Jusding from her disgruntled huff, having lost didn't sit well with Marinette and he just knew she'd match his skills next game.

He was looking forward to it.

It was after three games that Marinette finally got up and did her adorable little victory dance,and he watched her do so, a tentative smile spreading on his feature that only grew as her little dance went on. Marinette blushed again (and harder!) when she noticed him watch he Ron amusement and Adrien actually laughed, laughed!, at her embarrassed expression.

And then at the cute put that followed.

"Pah, laugh all you want, but I bet you won't once I beta you once more…What was the score again? Eight to two?"

He laughed even harder at that because it was so rare that anyone got to see Marinette so competitive and it was refreshing.

He got his payback though when Marinette spammed the laughing emote throughout the next game while decimating his bot (it was the first game she truly didn't hold back anymore) and he smiled every single time she did so.

"Would you look at that…", she drawled at the end, leaning back triumphantly (man, she really had that evil smirk down to a point).

"Looks like all you needed was a warm up…You _almost_ managed to hit me a few times…"

Feigning exasperation, Adrien stretched himself on the couch, letting his controller dramtuclaly fall onto the cushions.

"Not fair! You get to practice with your dad all the time and I have no one!", Adrien mock-complained, forgetting one, crucial detail.

Adrien wasn't supposed to know that. He froze the moment he realized that.

Marinette didn't though, instead she was still focused on the loading screen and simply frowned.

"How do you…?"

"You-You told me! Uh, earlier! You don't remember?"

Marinette simply frowned again, before shaking her head and then shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, it doesn't matter. It's not my fault my dad's more awesome than yours. Plus…"

Now she faced him, smirking evilly once more:

"You can always just ask him nicely…Just imagine _him_ sitting on this couch and beating both of us…"

Marinette chuckled before selecting her bot for the next game and so did Adrien. He _could_ imagine his father sitting here and it was a ridiculous image, especially after he imagined his father getting up to do Marinette's victory dance _including_ adorable buttwiggle and that made him laugh out loud again.

Maybe Plagg had been right, he mused to himself as he tried his best to at least get close to beating Marinette.

Maybe he really needed a distraction.

**.o.O.o.**

The two of them kept playing and truth be told, Adrien completely lost track of time.

And he also forgot about the bleak world waiting for him, just outside the room's windows.

At leadt, he thought he did.

"And? Are you feeling better now?"

Marinette smiled brightly, happily watching the boy looking more relaxed than she had ever seen him look before, but not a second after she had asked him, she regretted her words.

Adrien froze and then horror crept upon his expression.

He glanced at the clock.

It was already 1 am.

"I, uh…"

He knew he should head back to his room and go to bed and he knew he had to let Marinette go to sleep eventually - she wasn't his nanny after all - but he really, really didn't want to,but he couldn't force her to play some more with him.

How long had she wanted to go to sleep already? How long was he already keeping her awake?

"Yes. I do. I-I do feel better. I should…I should obably head to bed now…"

He glanced at her. Hugged his own knees and it broke Marinette's heart because he looked so lost and alone and there was not much she could do about it.

She should have just kept her mouth shut. But now she had to fix this, because whatever was going on, there was no way she'd leave him alone with whatever thoughts were plaguing him.

Just when Adrien got up she grabbed his wrist and softly tugged him back, to sit down again.

Had she really made him feel like she wanted him to leave?

"You-You know you can stay, right? Im-I'm not kicking you out or anything!"

She moved a bit closer, looking at him, a lost expression on her face and a fading smile and, hesitantly, Adrien pulled his head up.

"But-But it's so late already!"

He should leave, Marinette had every right to kick him out, though there was a voice in his head that told him that Marinette hadn't meant that and that she didn't want to küch him out and that she had simply wanted to know if he was feeling better because Marinette was one of those people that too kjoy from knowing that other people where happy.

Her response, a warm chuckle and a softening gaze, encouraged that voice even more.

"I was awake for a reason, you know? I was asked to hand in some sketches tod-I mean yesterday. Your dad will judge them, so, uh, this distraction is helping me just as much as it is you. Stay as long as you want, Adrien, I won't kick you out, I promise!"

She gazed at him hopefully, before blushing.

"But I, uh, can we-can we maybe do something else? My hands, uh, are starting to grow tired…"

Sheepishly she eyed her fingers, before shyly looking at him and Adrien glanced at his own, just now realising that she had a point.

He didn't want to leave yet though. Plagg would be asleep by now and he didn't want to return to an empty room again. He didn't want to inconvenience Marinette either, though, not anymore than he had already done so far.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Of course! Just tell me what you want to do!"

It almost sounded as if she was relieved at his words which didn't make sense to Adrien, but he wasn't going to question it. Maybe he was projecting, but if projecting helped him, then maybe he could indulge in a bit of selfishness.

"Can we, maybe, watch some silly movies again? Maybe some comedy show?"

"Absoluetly! I mean, I'll probably pass out before you, but stay as long as you like!"

And then, she was smiling again, brightly and warmly and it encompassed her entire face, from the tips of her lips to the glittering in her eyes.

It was beautiful.

(He was too tired to see it was a bit strained, because she was so, _so_ scared that he'd fold back together like he had done just a few seconds ago.)

(He wasn't too tired to notice that she faltered after a short moment and it made him frown, because he wanted to see that smile again.)

(He want too tired either, to see how her smile returned once more though it was so much more softly and so much more precious and it made him almost fell at home.)

"I know we aren't good friends or anything and that we've only known each other for what, a month?"

Adrien had to bite back his choked laughter at that.

"But I want you to know that whatever happens, you can talk to me. And, well… If you ever don't want to talk at all, that's fine too! We don't have to! We can watch movies, or just do homework, or just, I don't know, look at clouds or whatever, but, we'll, I just…"

"It's OK, Marinette. I know what you mean. Thank you."

He smiled at her (and it want the first smile of the night but it was the most sincere and most relieved and most honest one).

He almost hugged her too.

"It...It means a lot to me."

When he showed up the next night, carrying an extra blanket and a pillow, Marinette didn't so much ad glance at it.

When he showed up during her lunch break, sheepishly asking her if he could do his assignments next to her, she sinply smiled and pulled out a chair, gesturing for him to sit down mind either. He needed a friend after all and she was more than willing to provide that.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't know whether Master Fu's name is written with this 福 sign or not (it's definitely the one for good fortune etc. though) However, I think it would make sense and I like it so deal with it (also, I was too lazy to watch it with Chinese subtitles to try and figure it out so, uh, please don't hate me?)
> 
> Also, I love writing text messaging, because if I make a mistake, I can pretend it's more realistic
> 
> Anyway. I hope you liked the fluff. I hope the angst worked out better this time too (did it? I'm not sure). Do you like Gaberiel's potrayal? It's not season three yet, so I won't treat him like a complete jerk (looking at you, episode "Chat Blanc") and I hope his behaviour makes sense. (I also hope on writing some more scenes with im and Nathalie, but I'm not sure if I'll find space for it)
> 
> Anyway, I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on this!
> 
> Read you later  
> Bluestpaw


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I-I forgot to ask you about it. Sorry for that..."
> 
> Nervously, he rubbed his neck and pried his eyes away from her, trying not to bite his lip.
> 
> He looked up just in time to see Marinette's eyes lit up.
> 
> "Yes! That's the one I was looking for!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello and welcome to chapter four (remember when I said last chapter, that the next one wont be as long? Yeah, that was a lie)
> 
> I do hope you all will enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (I blame my lack of an attention span on needing so long to get it done).
> 
> Talking about things getting done, by the way, now, that I have caught up with everything posted on fanfiction.net, updates will take much longer. I plan on getting one out every month, but no promises from my side!
> 
> (Also, who else is super excited about the upcoming special? It's almost Septembre!)
> 
> Anyway, I believe I have bothered you enough for now, so - enjoy!

**What if all of Paris forgets?**   
**Chapter Four**

* * *

Chat hissed when he painfully scrapped alongside the wall, narrowly dodging the shot that was fired at him. He shuddered when he glanced back at where he had stood before. A piece of concrete had gone flying, spliced off by the impact off the shot, bursting into a million different shards. He gulped and turned around again, barely making it around the corner before another hail of bullets rained down on where he had been standing. Chat knew they weren't deadly – merely meant to paralyze him – but the fear was still there.

They were shooting at him. They-They were using actual weapons.

Akuma attacks had always been dangerous. Being a _superhero_ had always been dangerous. But having their minions (had those been...humans once?) shoot at him - without his lady by his side! - made the threat more real. More tangible.

More scary.

Before, they had only ever wanted to take his Miraculous. Now they wanted to jail him, wanted to put him away, to waste away with all those other poor souls that had angered the Controller. The thought was enough to keep Chat Noir up at night.

No one knew what exactly was happening in those re-education camps, as they were called, but their names themselves told Chat more than he had ever wanted to know. Nothing good could be going on in there. Nothing good, indeed.

It had taken the Akuma roughly a month, but now he was truly done playing nice. What had started out as them patiently waiting for Chat to make a move had ended in them making demands – and eventually, they had grown tired of that too.

Though, maybe that last development was Chat's fault too. After meeting that girl – the girl that had to have been Ladybug – she just had to be her! – had they erased her memories? He had...he had hoped she had simply been retained and that he could free her eventually - Chat had tentatively deiced to look for her. Evidently, that first time had been a trap – but it gave him hope. Maybe Ladybug would leave her home during the day, going shopping, going to school, to work. Maybe he'd be able to find her again that way! Maybe he could catch her and make her _remember_ and then they could get her earrings back and finally end this nightmare. They could got back to normal and he could see Nino again and Kim and Ivan and Alya and all of his other classmates. They could race across the rooftops once more and he could look at her and listen to her voice without having to rely on her old voice mails he had memorized by now anyway.

| _Hey Chat, just letting you know that…  
_

_|Chat, I...uh...I can't join you on patrol today…? I'm sorry, I…_

_|Chat, it's me! Can we move our meeting…_

The memories were painful, of course. But, if he just ventured out during the day, then maybe, _maybe_ , it wouldn't stay that way for long..!

It was late afternoon when Chat had been spotted. He had noticed a flock of blueish black hair and had followed the girl, catching up to her and trying to catch a glimpse of her face.

Of course he had been spotted. Whenever he tried to check someone he got spotted.

So far it had been for naught. For both sides.

Chat finally managed to scale a wall, escaping up onto the rooftops, making it into relative safety. The robots could technically speaking climb and there was still the normal Parisian police force – though their numbers had been greatly reduced – but rooftops meant less visibility. Rooftops meant he could run faster. And rooftops meant he could vanish into one of the many, many alleys Paris had to offer, de-transform and disappear once more.

And not too far off, Chat spotted the rooftop balcony he had been looking for. Cautiously, he checked his surroundings, before he sneaked over, vaulting onto the patio and falling down into the lawn-chair he had known to be there.

The familiarity almost stopped the disappointment he felt from rising up in his throat.

He had failed to find her again. How could he claim to be her best friend if he couldn't even find her in Paris? How could he claim to always have her back if he didn't _know what was happening to her_? How could he claim to love her, when so often he had found himself at the point of giving up, starring at the ring on his finger, wanting nothing more than to tear it off and hand it over, if it only meant he'd get her back? He knew she'd never want that – that she'd hate him if he let Hawkmoth win. But still!

But still.

The rooftop balcony he landed on was the perfect place to relax during his patrols – Chat laughed bitterly when he realized what he called his daily excursions. The plants surrounding the patio shielded it from prying eyes and Chat knew for a fact that the owner his safe haven wouldn't show up.

Sometimes he wanted to venture into the room below – he knew the hatch wasn't locked – but he never dared to do so. He couldn't intrude onto someone's privacy like that. She wouldn't want him to be there.

That, too, was a painful thought.

Chat shook his head, trying to shake the memories of the few times he had been inside from his head. He hadn't come here to get lost in thought, he had come here to relax. So, he leaned back and let all the tension in his shoulders go, mindful not to fall asleep. It would be so easy though...He was well hidden and he could almost feel the warmth of a well-lived house and a loving family. Could enjoy the feeling of being welcome, of being accepted.

His life lacked that feeling ever since the Akuma had taken over. Ever since no one remembered he had ever gone to school, ever since Nino didn't know his name anymore and ever since there wasn't a class chat filled with silly discussions or invitations to watch Alix's and Kim's newest competition.

A smile crept upon Chat's featured when he remembered how Marinette had made banners for each and every of those competitions or how she had supplied pastries and warmth and her skills to every class outing.

Chat sunk lower into the cushions. Tried to forget the world for a second. His eyes fluttered shut and…

PEEP. PEEP. PEEP.

Chat shot up, wildly grabbing his baton and getting in a fighting stance. Confused and all his senses on high alert his eyes zeroed in on his surroundings and – most importantly - the sound.

Flowers. Chairs. A railing.

Right. His alarm.

He must have fallen asleep and thank god had he set himself an alarm. One look at his baton told Chat all he needed to know. It was getting late and his Chinese lesson would start soon. He had to leave now if he didn't want to get into trouble. He might even get there early and have ten minutes with Marinette, if he didn't get spotted by robots again.

Chat vaulted from the patio onto the next roof and then burst into a sprint, keeping to chimneys and walls, until he found a deserted and lonely alley. He jumped down into it and de-transformed. After feeding Plagg a piece of Camenbert he started walking, keeping his eyes to the ground and being just a pace away from jogging.

You weren't supposed to jog unless you were on an assigned "jogging track" as one could disturb the flow of the pedestrians otherwise and might get into an accident. However, one wasn't supposed to walk too slowly either, as staying outside too long was dangerous in general (Adrien almost snorted when he though that the only dangerous thing out here were those robots) and lingering clocked the streets.

But Adrien didn't want to attract any attention, so he hurried along, not daring to look at any of the robots.

At least those new rules meant no one would notice him.

It was only when he passed a familiar looking girl that he faltered in his steps ever so slightly.

Blueish-black hair. A bit too tall. Wrong hair style. She was wearing a green skirt and simple white blouse.

"...stalked me! It was so scary!"

"I know! I can't believe this Chat Noir! First he disrupts everyone's sleep and now...now..."

"...be caught soon."

Adrien sped up. Hurried along (this time he was fast enough for some of the robots to scrutinize him suspiciously and he slowed down a bit, until it looked away.)

He knew he was scaring the city. He knew he was just fanning the flames that were the Controller's words. But he was out of options. Even if he did manage to defeat the Controller all by himself, he wouldn't get back the earrings. Hawkmoth probably already had them. And if he didn't get the earrings, he wouldn't be able to right the damage that had been done.

And a lot of damage had been done. No buildings had been destroyed, but the death toll kept rising.

No, attacking the Controller all by himself would be pointless. He had to wait until Hawkmoth made a mistake and he could get those earrings. And then-then he simply needed to find Ladybug.

He didn't like scaring them. But he didn't have much of a choice.

"I've always said that strays should be put down..."

Adrien gulped and lowered his head. All he could do was hope that no one would ever make the connection between his blonde hair and that of Chat. That no one would ever notice that Paris' newest villain had the same eye color that he had.

x

It was evening when he went out a second time. He still had 40 minutes until curfew and he was planning on using them. Marinette was still busy anyway, so it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

But his search was fruitless. He didn't even spot anyone that came close to matching his Lady's looks and while that made for a relaxing patrol (Adrien was getting sick of having to run away from various robots), it frustrated him. Made him feel like the useless stray that he was.

Maybe he should just get rid of that stupid bell his Lady sometimes played with.

He was on his way back home – already having transformed back into Chat Noir to climb into his window – when he spotted something in the corner of his eye.

For a second he hesitated. Thought he saw a speck of blue hair.

His eyes lit up, unable to believe to be this lucky…!

And then the light dimmed again when the girl turned around and he realized he had been starring at Marinette the entire time. It was unfair, how similar to his Lady she looked – how similar to his Lady she was. For a second Chat frowned, feeling like something – a thought, an idea – was on the tip of his tongue. He just needed a second longer and he was sure to understand…!

And then Marinette started frowning and he leaped behind a chimney, holding his breath as he stared at a starless sky.

"...thought I saw something...Anyway, so you were saying..."

He didn't want to scare Marinette. He had never been able to figure out her thoughts on Chat Noir - hearing her say she _hated_ him would be simply too painful – and he didn't want to talk about it either. It was one of the only topics he didn't dare to breach.

The other one was her impromptu internship.

She hadn't told _anyone_ about it. Not him, not Nino, not Alya.

And it had started on the day that the Akuma had taken over.

It was suspicious.

Adrien didn't want to think about it.

So he didn't. Instead, he leaned around the corner, watching Marinette talk to another girl – another intern, from what he had learned – and smiled, remembering they had another study meeting planned for this evening.

At least something good had come from this whole ordeal.

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

"Why is physics so hard, Adrien?"

It had been another two weeks now. Two weeks without any success and Adrien found himself again and again starring out of the window, in direction of the Notre Dame, silently playing with the ring on his finger.

The death toll was steadily rising. It wasn't the first time, of course, that people had died during Akuma attacks. In fact, it happened all the time. The very first victim had been a casualty from a thrown car during the very first attack. The woman had hit her head badly and had died. Simple as that. Adrien hadn't heard about it until two weeks later, when Alya had squealed all day long when she had found out about the incident. Apparently, the woman had been healed by Ladybug's Miraculous Cure and other than memories, there hadn't been any reminders.

" _Her powers are so amazing! She-She brought back the dead!"_

There were others, of course. Stormy Weather, famously, the Gamer, and of course, he had died himself already too – the first time being during Timebreaker. He hadn't known at that time, but Ladybug had confessed a month later – after having had another nightmare about it. She had made him promise to never do that again and he had, knowing that it had been a lie.

He'd always sacrifice himself for his Lady.

For a split second he wondered if he had been able to do again this time too. If his own self preservation had kicked in and he had failed her. But then he shook his head, turned to the girl sitting next to him and smiled at her.

This was no time to get distracted.

"Don't worry, Marinette, I'm sure you'll pass that test with no trouble at all!"

Marinette scoffed at that and turned her head, starring at the notes Alya had sent her and comparing them to the material Adrien had gotten from his tutor.

"Pah, says Mr. Genius! Is there anything you _aren't_ good at?!"

Adrien smiled fondly at her and was once again reminded, that, right now, he wasn't sitting alone in his room, playing with a ring on his finger that carried more importance than it should. Starring at death tolls that had no business existing and trying to escape the worried glances of a kwami that shouldn't care.

Right now he was sitting in a nice, homey room, with home-made cookies and milk, enjoying the company of a cute girl and just being a relatively normal teenager.

Wa-Wa-Wait, hold that thought, rewind it.

C-Cute? Adrien blushed when he stole another glance at Marinette, taking in the picture she posed. Her relaxed posture, that hint of a smile that made him feel all giddy, her _adorable_ freckles...

Dammit, he had just agreed with his traitorous thoughts, hadn't he?

But no! Marinette! was cute! Objectively speaking! She had those, again, _adorable_ freckles, those sky-blue eyes that were one of the most expressive he had ever seen and a smile that had made even _Nino_ lose composure at some point! Marinette _was_ cute! There was nothing wrong with acknowledging that! He knew she was amazing and _that_ had never irritated him before either, so neither should it now!

(And if he blushed harder at that thought, Adrien was wise enough to ignore it – he had to concentrate on finding Ladybug – his _one_ and _only_ love – instead of wasting thoughts on whether or not his classmate was cute.)

(Thinking about it, she looked a lot like Ladybug – he probably just had a type.)

"Uh-I-It's just because of my tutoring! I-I bet if you had private tutors, you'd be even better than I am!"

Adrien knew he was stuttering and tried his best to cover it up with a fake cough. Confused, Marinette glanced at him, before shrugging and focusing on her physics homework once more.

Adrien let out a breath of relief because his thoughts were a lot less confusing when Marinette _wasn't_ looking at him, but then she did that thing where she slightly poked out her tongue while concentrating and his thoughts where an absolute mess because he didn't understand himself.

Well, it didn't matter. They had physics to do and then some literature. Plus, Marinette had promised to help him with his Chinese – or rather, to text her mother about all and any questions that he might have.

He had taken every chance he had gotten to tease her about her inability to speak Chinese.

They worked in relative silence for some time, only interrupted by whispered question and quiet explanations, until Marinette's TV set turned on (Whenever Adrien noticed how nice Marinette's room was, he started smiling, because then he remembered all the interactions she and his father had had and how well Gabriel seemed to like Marinette.) and the news broadcast was played.

Adrien tensed the moment he heard the jingle.

He knew it well. Too well.

It haunted every single one of his dreams.

Adrien's face paled and he tried to discretely move away from the TV without Marinette noticing, praying that the sound would get quieter. That he _just_ wouldn't be able to make out the words. He could deal with the pictures – he simply didn't have to look – but it were the voices that he hated. He couldn't tune them out, his own unconsciousness betraying him time and time again and he was left listening to his own failure.

Time and time he glanced at Marinette as he inched away farther and farther.

His hands were getting sweaty.

His heartbeat accelerated.

He felt like a criminal _and he shouldn't_!

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news!"

Did Marinette notice how tense he had gotten? How he glowered at the news anchorwoman (Madame Chamak deserved better. She deserved so much better.)? Would she...would she connect the dots? She would. Marinette was clever, she definitelywould and then she would look at him with _disgust_ and _fear_ and she would hate him and then she would report him and she couldn'tbecause she was his best friend and _he couldn't stand the thought of her betraying him and he..._

And then, Marinette cast a glance at the television and let out an exasperated sigh.

For a second, Adrien simply stared at her. Then, he, too, glanced at the television currently displayed Madame Chamak reading the news and newest numbers, before looking back at Marinette, trying his best to conceal his hopeful smile.

"Do...Do you not like the broadcasts?"

Out of all the outcomes (he had almost regretted the words – but then again, the question was innocent enough, wasn't it? Wasn't it?) he didn't expect this one.

Marinette _froze_. For a good minute she simply laid there, on her belly, starring straight ahead with eyes too wide to be doing any reading. And then she snapped into action again, half-turning to him, eyes widening even _more_ and her hands stretched in front of her, doing that adorable flailing that they did sometimes.

"Wha-What?! NO! No! Of-Of course not! It's-It's...the great is broadcast! I-I mean, the broadcast is great! Amazing! Entertaining! Well, uh, of course not "tentertaining", uh, " _entertaining_ "! We-We're talking about _criminals_ after all! And that's bad news! Very, bery vad news! Bad news! I meant "bad news"! But-But it's...it's _interesting_ and _informative_ and, and..."

Marinette trailed off, casting her eyes away and chewing on her lip. Adrien couldn't help but chuckle. Marinette scoffed at that, but it did take away the tension in her bones and she turned back to lay on her stomach, mumbling:

"I, uh, I just can't concentrate. On physics. Because I'm doing my physics homework. And-And it's distracting me and _now stop laughing, Adrien_!"

She snatched a pillow from her couch and hit him with it, Adrien only half-heartedly trying to protect his face while he dissolved into a heap of giggles.

Maybe it was the falling tension, maybe it was the relief at knowing that she didn't want to watch the broadcast either or maybe it was simply because of how ridiculous Marinette looked – he didn't know.

But he just couldn't stop.

"Stop-Stop laughing you-you..!", she exclaimed with no real heat behind her words, hitting him again and again until he begged for mercy and his laughter slowly faded away.

Still, he couldn't contain every giggle that escaped him when he looked at her, the TV broadcast forgotten, the voices drowned out by his laughter and the pictures outshone by Marinette's blush.

"Why...Why are you even laughing in the first place!"

She was now looking at him and pouting and Adrien, his eyes filled with mirth, couldn't stop himself.

"You-You look adorable!"

For a moment, Marinette froze and so did Adrien, wondering where the hell _that_ had come from and god, please don't let this moment die just yet (she-she could be so awkward around him. He had seen it happen plenty f time, but then again, it hadn't happened ever since the memory wipe...), but then Marinette simply huffed and turned her head away, sitting up _just_ so she could dramatically cross her arms in front of her chest.

"You...You stupid flirt!", she exclaimed scandalized, but Adrien could see the tell-tale signs of a suppressed smile and he felt elevated.

She didn't like the broadcasts either. He knew he wasn't always the best at picking up social hues and he knew he still made many mistakes when it came to interacting with other people, but Marinette was nothing but an honest person who wore her heart on her sleeves and Adrien knew, without a doubt, that her physics homework wasn't the reason why she didn't want to watch the broadcast.

She actually didn't like it. She didn't like it! Were there others? Was...Did maybe not _all_ of Paris hate him? And-And if she didn't like broadcast did that maybe mean she didn't like the Controller either? Was...was this just a case of preference falsification?

Adrien was determined to find out.

"We don't have to watch it, if it's distracting you? We can just look up all the important stuff on the internet later on!"

He smiled at her and she smiled back, before nodding and turning to her physics homework once more.

"Thank you! The remote control is over there, if you could just grab it..."

Adrien had to keep himself from sprinting over to grab the remote. From now on, he'd have to make sure they were always doing homework during the broadcast. Be it to simply give Marinette an excuse as to why she didn't want to watch.

He was lucky he took his time, as to not show his true feelings. Because, just before he reached the remote, the news showed a picture of him – Chat that was – and Adrien's gaze dropped to Marinette, who was starring at the television, her expression unreadable.

He swallowed, disappointment like bile raising in his throat, a block in his throat that made it hard to breathe and drove tears into his eyes.

She hadn't paid any attention to the broadcast before, but now that he was on…!

But then he realized that Marinette didn't look _ma_ _d_ or _angry_ or like she hated him and the disappointment let up.

Maybe she _didn't_ hate him. She hadn't liked the broadcast. What-What if she didn't believe it either?

Slowly, the lump in his throat dissolved too and Adrien felt it easier to breathe, finally finding the strength to turn off the TV and to walk back over to her, a spring in his steps that hadn't been there before.

Maybe…!

Maybe…!

And this was his chance to find out!

He just had to make it sound casual…

Nodding at the television, he turned to her, trying his best to hide his giddy smile, and asked:

"Hey, Marinette...What's youropinion on Chat Noir?"

The question was out now and there were no take backs. This would either hurt or give him hope.

He really hoped it was the later.

For a second time that day, Marinette froze and Adrien had to keep himself from grinning maniacally. Though, this time it took her only half a minute to gather her thoughts.

"Ch-Ch-Chat Noir? I-What do you mean "What is your opinion on him"? I-Wh-What kind...What kind of opinion _should_ I have of him..? I mean, he-he's evil, right? The bad guy? The villain? Why-Why would I ever think something else!"

If her freezing hadn't given her away already, her stuttering definitely did. It was adorable and cute and so _Marinette_ that Adrien leaned in - he just _had_ to - closer than he had ever before and then asked, _whispering_ into her ear:

"It does seem like you are lying, Mari..."

Marinette froze. And then, a furious blush was spreading across her cheeks and just now Adrien realized just how _close_ he was to her – closer than he had ever been before – and his eyes shot open and he whirled back, his cheeks heating up in the process and he tried to cover it up by coughing into his hand.

At least Marinette was too busy to stare at nothing to call him out for whatever _that_ had been.

She was also the one to break the silence that descended upon them after the whole...situation…

Glancing at him, before her eyes shied away again, she said:

"I-I guess? I just..."

She stopped, biting her lips and scrunching her lips in concentration.

He wanted to pill out her ip from her teeth and soothe the irritated skin. But he didn't and just stared at her and waited for an answer because he _needed_ to know.

It was only then that he realized he wanted Marinette's approval. That he _craved_ it.

"I...I...I just can't believe that he's evil. I mean, well, he-he _is_! But...but not like that! He-He's simply lost! A-A lost kitten! He...He...maybe he's fighting for something, but lost his way, you know?"

Marinette looked at him pleadingly and Adrien simply nodded, his throat falling dry.

He didn't know what to make of that answer. She...She didn't seem to hate him. She couldn't imagine him truly being evil.

It meant a lot to him, but at the same time, he was still disappointed. She may not believe him to be evil at heart...she still viewed him as the villain. But then again…

"Have you ever met him?"

Marinette frowned at that question, scrunching her lip as if she wasn't sure whether she had, whether she should tell him or not. Which was ridiculous, seeing as he knew they had never met – not since the start of the Akuma attack.

"No. I haven't. Have you?"

"No."

Adrien decided to change that. If Marinette met Chat Noir, then surely, she'd change her mind, right? After all, before all of this had started, she had been a huge fan! His mind made up, Adrien ventured closer again, returning his attention to their physics homework and trying his best to explain to Marinette what was going on.

Marinette spoke up again, when they switched to literature.

"Hey, Adrien?", she asked.

"Yes?"

"You-You won't tell anybody, right? About what I said?"

Marinette was hardly looking at him and Adrien paused for a second, being caught off-guard by her question.

Of course. Marinette was just as scared as he was – she hadn't known whether he would have betrayed her. She didn't know what he knew after all, which meant….

She trusted him.

More so than he had trusted her.

He had to talk to her as Chat Noir. He simply had to.

"Of course not, Marinette. And let me tell you a secret..."

At that, he leaned in closer again. Trying to calm his erratic calm beat.

"I think the same. So don't worry – I won't ever tell anybody."

Marinette looked up at him and with that, singly motion stole his breath. He stared right at her face, noticing just _how many_ adorable freckles she had and he felt himself leaning in even closer to get a better look.

Would he be able to count every single one of them if he just stared in her eyes for long enough?

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

Weeks ago, Alya had decided that whatever weird pictures she had found on her phone couldn't be important. If they were, the Controller would have told them. But he hadn't. So, in her mind, she was done with them. Deleted them from her phone and then decided to try and forget about them.

Well, no. That wasn't entirely correct. C _onscious_ Alya tried to move on. Unconscious Alya, however, did not. _Unconscious_ Alya kept theorizing about possible conspiracies (what if Chat Noir, and whoever that Ladybug girl was, used to be the Controller's right-hand(s)? What if they had betrayed him? What if-What if the Controller was being held hostage?! No one had seen him since...since...when had anyone ever seen the Controller live and in person? Plus...Chat...Alya just couldn't believe that he was supposed to be _evil_!) and, much worse, unconscious Alya kept whispering those traitorous words into conscious Alya's ear.

It was distracting. Even Nino had noticed that something was wrong, during their date in the zoo no less. They had been celebrating their one year anniversary and Alya had been to distracted to properly enjoy it. Which was a pity, because the zoo was a great place and because her dad worked there, they could get a private tour through the cage in which they had first started crushing on each other.

She still didn't remember how exactly they had ended up there. Which was a pity, because it had been by far one of the best meet-cutes in the world (with exception of maybe Mari...Wait...Was...Was Marinette crushing on anyone? She-She wasn't, right?), but the weird veil in her memories made it impossible to retell a coherent story.

Which sucked. Alya aspired to become a journalist after all and a real, investigative journalist wouldn't stick to half-truths and vague retellings.

Anyway. Point was, Alya didn't like half-truths and despite her best efforts, she couldn't shake the many, _many_ , questions that had formed in her head upon seeing that cursed picture of that witch-woman. Which made the many, many more pictures of various weird people-like shaped monsters on her computer she had stumbled upon by accident all the more damming.

Alya sighed. There was simply no way she was going to be able to sleep tonight, was there?

X

Hours later, Alya was fairly proud of herself. She had always thought herself to possess all the necessary qualities to become a good journalist needed and she had once again been proven right. She was brave (reckless, some might say), determined (stubborn, according to her mother), possessed a sharp mind (after all, she was able to rightfully conclude almost _everything_ ) and, most important, she was _diligent_. Hyper-focused. (Obsessed).

So, after a night's work she had shifted through all the available footage she had on her laptop and what she found was...unsettling.

That witch-lady wasn't the only monster that had, apparently, terrorized Paris. Quite the opposite actually. There were a total of 74 so called "Akuma" (the word rang a bell, but Alya just couldn't put a finger on _why_ ) and they had come in all kind of different shapes and sizes, with lots of different powers and themes. It reminded her a bit of the many, many villains that Majestia had to face time and time again and it made Alya even more determined to figure out what was going on.

I mean, superheroes, amirite?

This was the point at which Alya should probably stop. Too much curiosity wasn't good (according to the Controller), especially not if it made you question your superiors but Alya...Alya couldn't find herself to care. She just couldn't.

Was that how criminals got started? For a second, she worried, almost closed the tab she had opened, after all she _knew_ that what she was doing was wrong, but...was it really that bad? Was it really? After all, she just wanted an answer and who knows, maybe that answer could help the Controller!

So, Alya ignored her inner alarm bells. She tried to find out more by using google, but nothing turned up. The key phrase "Monsters in Paris" gave her most information, leading to a site describing urban legends that Alya had never heard of – most of them originating in the catacombs. That may be a good place to start investigating then, however she doubted anyone would just allow her to enter the catacombs.

Well, she'd find a way in. It was a good lead after all.

But other than that? Nothing. "Chat Noir" led her to the official government news about him and some speculations online – some of which _were_ interesting, but speculation wasn't going to get her far. The same happened when she googled "Ladybug" - though there was surprising little information on her available – and if she googled "Chat Noir and Ladybug" she just found fan art.

People really were down to _s_ hip everything _._

Alya could totally get why. Those two werepretty cute.

When she looked up "purple butterfly" she found some information on that – but nothing on monsters. The symbolic meaning of the color purple or of a butterfly itself wasn't helpful either.

It was useless.

And then she went through the videos and realized that those butterflies were called "Akuma" and that they were sent out by someone called Hawkmoth. Which hadsounded pretty ominous, but those two keywords didn't bring in _any_ results (which was unsettling – very, very unsettling) and it was up to Alya to find another lead.

And she found it, by going back to the beginning. If Marinette had been involved with that Akuma, maybe she'd know more. Maybe she could give her a lead.

(Though Alya hoped that she didn't, because she really didn't wanted her best friend to be caught up with this. It...If she was, Alya didn't know how she'd deal with it. Would she...Would she rat her out to the Controller? But...But she couldn't! Marinette was her best friend!)

"Hey, girl!...Yeah, it's been _too_ long!...Uh, actually, I do. Uh, I've got some questions for you!...No, not for the school blog...No, I'd rather talk to you directly! Plus, we haven't hung out together in ages!...So, movie night it is?...Great, see you soon!"

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

Things...Things were weird. Ever since _the_ broadcast. The girl found herself confused at the most _mundane_ things as days went by. As if things had changed, but she couldn't explain _what_ had changed. All those rules the Controller was making...Ever since the broadcast things just didn't make any _sense_. It felt like most of the things happening were _wrong_ and she couldn't explain why.

She found herself wondering whether those arrests were truly lawful. She wondered whether the curfew made sense. Whether she really shouldn't be curious.

She couldn't stop the thoughts either. And telling someone else – a good friend, her own _parents_ – was out of the question. What if they reported her? What if she'd get into trouble for her traitorous thoughts? After all, _everyone_ thought the Controller to be right.

Who was she to disagree?

No one. That was who she was. So she shut up and kept on, flinching everytime she heard her friends talk about the rising numbers. They still texted and she still tried to participate in the discussion everytime one of the broadcasts went live – although she still couldn't watch them, because the TV was still broken.

Life went on and while it ma have felt _wrong_ and uncomfortableat times, it wasn't...it wasn't all that _bad_.

And then her mother got arrested.

She had spoken out – publicly – against the Controller and the girl felt ashamed of her – and proud at the same time. And then she felt empty, because after school she returned to an empty house and there was no one home to ask her how her day had gone. There was no one telling her off when she slightly burned dinner again and there was no one there to remind her off her chores for the day. There were no afternoon snuggles (until she had learned one could snuggle with one's father too – both of them had felt better knowing that) and no surprise magazines laying on the counter top if she did something exceptionally well.

It wasn't long until the girl found herself despising the Controller. He had taken her mother. For something as simple as speaking her mind.

But still, she didn't speak up. Too afraid. Too worried. She couldn't let her father return to nothing.

And as time went on and she found herself spending more and more time in company off her friends – having many, many sleepovers, listening to them talk, _knowing_ they had to be right – her doubts slowly started fading. She stayed over, watched the broadcasts with them, discussed the newest rules – and realized she had been wrong.

That her mother had been wrong.

That the Controller had been right after all.

And when her father and she watched TV together on the couch, when they had _finally_ gotten a new one, she wondered, whether a child could possibly hate their parent.

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

"Where were you?"

Marinette's question caught Adrien off-guard. He had just come back from a nightly stroll and was leaving his bathroom, when his room's silence had been disturbed.

At first he had panicked, whirled around and almost attacked the other person in the room, wondering who was faster – a scream or his hand. But then he had noticed who it was that was standing before him and he stopped, dead in his tracks, simply starring at the petite girl standing in front of him.

Marinette and he had done their homework together the past few weeks and he was late. She had probably been worried. Of course she had been worried.

She was _Marinette_.

"I...uh..."

But even her being Marinette, it didn't change what had just happened. She had been _in his room_. She had known he hadn't been there and now he was.

How could he possibly explain that?

"Hey...Are-Are you ok? You-You look weirdly pale..."

His head snapped to her and he stared at her, unsure what he was going to say. _He hadn't been in his room_. She _knew_ that. What-What if she figured him out? What if she reported him? What-What if his _only_ friend betrayed him and he had no one…But then again, she didn't seem to like the broadcasts and maybe she hadn't realized yet, that he was Chat Noir and maybe...

"Hey, Adrien, it's fine! Really! I-I shouldn't pry! If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to, I just...I was worried, that's all!"

Marinette had come closer while talking to him, looking at him with those damned blue eyes and Adrien wasn't sure whether he should bolt or hug her and never let go.

Both options were oddly tempting. And, of course, Marinette ended up making the choice for him.

Following her lead was strangely comforting.

"Do-Do you want a hug? I don't know what's on your mind or whether I'm overstepping any boundaries here, because, well, I can imagine you wouldn't like getting touched by weird people that you don't really know that well, but then again..."

Adrien interrupted her by crushing her in a hug.

"Thank you, Mari...I-I really need this right now..."

He was smiling when he held her, reassured. She didn't know. She wasn't going to rat him out.

She trusted him. _She had been worried_.

Adrien barely managed to breathe when he realized what he was doing. She was blindly trusting him and he-he was lying to her. He was making excuses and he was being a terrible friend (how often had he already snapped at her? How often?!). He had scared her when he had watched her as Chat and now, here he was, taking advantage of her endless kindness!

How could he...

He should be ashamed of himself.

But he didn't want to let go just yet and he couldn't tell her that he was Chat Noir and he couldn't tell her why he…

But he could. He could tell her.

"I...Marinette...I just...Sometimes..."

He slowly backed away from her, starring in her eyes, that were filled with confusion and warmth.

"I sometimes, uh...break out of my room?"

He hated how it sounded like a question, but he couldn't change it.

"You...You break out of your room sometimes?!"

Adrien flinched back, almost hearing the Controller's voice telling him that he had a curfew to follow – that he should follow the advice, that he was to be arrested and re-educated, because why would she _not_ rat him out, although she hadn't said anything about his stance on…

"There's a curfew in place!"

Marinette's first words hit him like a slap.

But Marinette would never slap anyone, so surely, he had no reason to be afraid, right? Right?

"What-What if you get caught?! Do you have any idea how much trouble you'd be in?! Why would you go out in the middle of the night in the first place?! That's...That's insane!"

He hung his head in shame, trying to ignore the pain in his left shoulder that had flared up. It was a daily reminder for why doing what he was doing was stupid.

But he just couldn't stop.

"But why? Why-Why would you do that?"

"Uh...nightmares?"

Nightmares were a good reason. Everyone had nightmares, right?

Did _she_ have nightmares? She had to, right? Heck, they were _living_ one.

"Nightmares?"

It was a question, but not one filled with ill intent (Nothing she ever did would be filled with ill intent). In fact, if anything, Marinette managed to look even _more_ worried and the question carried the unspoken words "About what?".

Of course, she had known about his nightmares. He had told her before, but so far, she hadn't known about his daily "walks".

Of course she'd be worried.

But Adrien wasn't ready to answer that question yet. Because, really, what was he going to tell her? His past? One that she didn't even remember? An answer that would stretch even Marinette's patience thin and surely would get him into trouble? Surely, she could only tolerate so much rule violation's without getting alarmed.

So, instead of answering, he simply nodded, hoping she wouldn't pry and let it be.

Marinette didn't pry. She took her time to consider him – something? - before her entire face lit up – _why_ had her smile to be so contagious? - and then she started rummaging through her purse.

"Give me a second, it should be here...", she murmured, not looking at it, while her eyes were trained on the contents of her bag.

It was a weird moment. For some reason, something else had gained Marinette's entire attention (He did not like that. He did not like that at all) and she had stopped comforting him (And he _really_ wanted her to keep comforting him – was that selfish? Was...Was he being selfish right now?!)

And then Marinette dropped to her knees and started to empty her bag on the floor, her movements growing more erratic with every passing second.

He should stop being selfish and probably ask her, if she needed help or not.

"Are you..."

"I can't believe I lost it!"

"Lost what?"

Frustrated (and panicked) Marinette got up again, hastily checking her trouser pockets.

"My-My lucky charm! It's a chain with beads and I got it from my mum and-and..."

She trailed off, knelt down and started to shake her bag again.

Adrien gulped.

He knew exactly what her lucky charm looked like – it was currently burning a hole through his trouser pockets.

He should probably give it back. She didn't remember ever giving it to him. Maybe in this...timeline? she wouldn't want to.

"I, uh...", he said, not daring to meet her eyes.

He didn't want to give it back. The charm was indeed lucky – Adrien was convinced the only reason no one had found out abut his secret identity was the charm – and it symbolized that they were friends. Of course, he knew that _now_ but for the longest time he had feared that Marinette outright _hated_ him. That, even though she had accepted his apology, she still thought of him like she did of Chloé sometimes. And then she had gone and gifted him with one of her prized possessions and he had known that while they may not be the best of friends, she, at the very least, didn't hate him.

Maybe she disliked him a bit, but she didn't _hate_ him.

No, he didn't want to return the charm. But she was still looking for it, so he had to.

"I-I found this earlier...may it fell out of your bag?", Adrien offered, reluctantly taking the charm out of his trouser pockets, holding it out to her.

"I-I forgot to ask you about it. Sorry for that..."

Nervously, he rubbed his neck and pried his eyes away from her, trying not to bite his lip.

He looked up just in time to see Marinette's eyes lit up.

"Yes! That's the one I was looking for!"

His heart started beating faster when she smiled at him and he felt his cheeks heat up.

And then her hands were on his and she carefully closed his palms around the charm, still smiling brilliantly at him, before her own cheeks heat up and she cast her gaze away.

"This-This is my lucky charm. It may sound ridiculous, but it works, I promise!"

Marinette looked back at him, _ripped her head around_ , her eyes swimming with honesty and Adrien wanted to tear up because _he knew that_ , because those words sounded oh so familiar.

"I mean, I _know_ it sounds childish, but it really helped me and, and..."

Her voice trailed off and Adrien gulped.

"And-And It thought that maybe, with all those nightmares that you're having...Maybe it will help?"

His throat fell dry as he stared at her. Her eyes swam with adoration and warmth and _home_ but no _pity_ and he had had enough pity from all the other people around him.

He desperately wanted to tell her that he didn't need her charm, that he'd be fine as long as he could stand next to her, as long as she just looked at him like that he'd be fine and not all the lucky charms on this planet would make his life better than _if she just stayed_.

But he didn't say anything. He just looked at her, his mouth dry, starring at her with tears in his eyes, trying his best not to ruin the moment. Until he realized that he hadn't even thanked at her and regardless of how _nice_ her hand felt in his and just how well it seemed to fit there, holding his own, that he had to take the lucky charm on his own eventually.

"T-Thank you", he croaked out, closing his hands around the charm and slowly pulling it closer.

He missed the contact of her hands instantly.

He opened his hands, glancing at the item it held, before his eyes moved up again, praying that _that_ look wasn't gone yet.

It wasn't.

His eyes filled with tears and he pressed the lucky charm against his chest.

This...This was one of Marinette's most prized possessions. She carried it with her wherever she went and had positively panicked when she had realized it was gone. It-It meant so much to her and she had not given it to him just once – but twice.

She had trusted him with keeping it safe _twice_.

A traitorous voice asked him whether he thought she might trust him with her heart as well.

"And now..."

Suddenly, Marinette clapped her hands together and ripped her gaze away from him (to his embarrassment, Adrien wanted to take her head and turn it back to him, to gaze into her eyes for longer and he had to remind him that _she was a friend_ ).

"We wanted to watch a movie! How about "Your name"? You really seem to like it..."

Adrien frowned.

"You-You don't like the movie?", he inquired, hoping she'd say "No". If she said "Yes", he wouldn't force her to watch it with him another time.

"No, no! I do! It's just...so sad? I don't know, I want to cry everytime I watch it..."

It was sad indeed. And maybe that was one of the reasons why he liked watching it so much, because a sad Marinette craved hugs; hugs that Adrien was maybe a _bit_ too willing to give. But also…

"It has a happy ending. And...and I love that happy ending."

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

"May I have a look at your sketch book?"

The girl flinched when he broke the silence and she realized she wasn't alone in the living room anymore. Usually she'd be sketching in her room or at the dinner table – whenever she was waiting for his son to arrive for dinner – but perhaps she had found inspiration and was too afraid to lose the thought – one of the many irksome habits creativity kept.

"O-Of course, Mister Agreste!"

The girl, _Marinette_ , he reminded himself, got up, handing him her sketch book, eyes wide with fear – or wonder. He wasn't sure yet.

Probably wonder. She had been Ladybug after all. And whilst Ladybug may not have been as reckless as Chat Noir, it made her a hero no less.

A pity she had fought against him.

Especially considering she had such talent.

The sketch she was currently working on was for a jacket. Either winter or autumn, meaning she was thinking of making it for herself – it was autumn already, too late for any new designs to be added to the collection.

It was a nice jacket anyway. Maybe a bit overloaded on the details and not quite eye-catching, but it was to be assumed she hadn't intended for it to be a high-fashion piece. Maybe something to wear to school.

It was fine. For her skill level, it was perfectly fine.

"Maybe you should put the buttons more to the side – it would look less ordinary, while you could still keep the silhouette."

He handed the sketch book back to her and she grabbed it – a bit too quickly to be casual – and looked at her drawing.

Gabriel watched her silently, saw the way her brows furrowed, no doubt as she tried to add the changes he had suggested in her mind. Then her expression lit up and she noted something, before looking back at him.

"Thank you so much, Mister Agreste! I'll add the changes once I get the time to do so!"

Had Ladybug always been such a ray of sunshine? Or was it simply because he had helped her?

An ironic thought. Ladybug secretly looked up to Hawkmoth as her style icon.

Truly ironic.

He averted his eyes, his gaze falling on the lonely vase standing tall on the coffee table, a stark contrast against the dark-brown wood.

An even stronger contrast where the bright, yellow roses that were inside.

Contemplating them, he plucked one of the flowers from the bouquet, starring at it, feeling the girl's gaze rest on him.

She was curious but wise enough not to ask.

"I assume this is what inspired you?", he asked, offering the rose to the girl, who eagerly accepted it.

"Yes, Mr. Agreste. I saw the flowers and couldn't help but compare it to the leaves outside – I like both colors and wanted to use them for something together, hence the jacket..."

"A fine choice. However, I do advice you either use more contrasting shades of yellow or less contrasting – the two shades you used right now are neither and don't make a clear enough statement. In addition, you may want to mix up the position of the different shades. The current distribution is...normal. Everyday. You may want to change that."

He had liked the hat she had made for that contest he had held better – but then again, this was just a rough sketch. He was surprised she had even taken her time to color it.

Oh well, if she had been inspired by the flower's color, that may be a reason.

"Thank you Mr. Agreste! I'll try to find better colors...And thank you so much! Your advice is really helpful!"

She was beaming again and Gabriel found the hint of a smile tugging at the corner's of his mouth.

Most interns would have been destroyed by his criticism, but then again – he hadn't been harsh, had he? He had been rather nice about it.

What an interesting, and disconcerting, development. He may have to look into it later. She was still Ladybug – with or without the earrings – and he had to stop seeing her as an innocent girl and promising intern.

She wasn't here to become his future apprentice, she was here to be supervised and to keep Chat Noir away from "his Lady". He had to remember that. Maybe once Emilie was back and he had reset the time line he'd let Adrien attend public school again – he should probably somehow reach out to her once no one could stop him anymore.

"Anyway. I did not come here to dally. I merely wanted to compliment you on your prowess – and your time management. Your school has informed me that you are still staying on top of all your classes?"

"I do! Thanks to Adr-your son's help! He helps me with my homework and with studying...He's a really good friend!"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at that. Friend. She hadn't hesitated to call him a friend.

Well, they were getting rather close to each other, he supposed. She was his age after all and he recalled they had been friends before the latest Akuma too – it would make sense for them to befriend each other once again.

Which was great. It was probably good for Adrien to have someone like her. To keep him company and maybe, to make him feel less... _lonely_.

He just had to be careful that they wouldn't get too close to each other.

"Well, I am glad he is helpful. May I ask...When does he finds the time to help you? His schedule is rather packed after all..."

"Oh, uh...in the evenings?"

Gabriel rose an eyebrow at that.

"After his piano practice? He, uh, usually comes to me and then we watch some movies and do our homework and stuff like that...Of course he leaves for his room afterwards again!"

Gabriel knew that was a lie, but he didn't comment on it. Her entire room was under surveillance (with exception of her bathroom) and he had asked Nathalie to review the footage after he had observed his son slink back to his room one early morning. The footage had revealed that what the girl had said was true – they did their homework, watched movies and then, Adrien fell asleep on her couch. There was nothing to worry about other than the fact that they were getting _awfully_ close.

And that Gabriel suspected that his son's eye bags were partially due to the many sleepovers they were having.

But Adrien had gotten better. Nowadays one could catch him smile. Which was good news for the many photo shoots he had to attend. Now, that he was free from all those pesky public classes, he had so much more time to concentrate on his future.

"I see...Did my son tell you why..."

"Sir!"

There weren't many things in this world that Gabriel Agreste was sure of. In fact, there was _nothing_ he was absolutely sure of. He had once believed his family's love would last forever, but evidently, that had been a lie. And he wasn't so foolish as to believe that he had won the war he had waged in Paris. In fact, it was entirely possible that Chat Noir would manage to get the earrings back – however small that possibility may be.

There truly weren't many things he could be sure of. However, he had always believed himself to be a fearsome shadow, a presence looming over the mansion that no one dared to defy.

Whoever had just dared to interrupt him had proved that wrong too.

Highly irritated – but not yet angry – Gabriel turned around to tell off whoever had dared to do so, just to stop in his tracks.

It had been Nathalie.

Well, she had always been an exception.

"Sir. The meeting will start soon. We have to leave."

Gabriel frowned. Meeting? He didn't remember any meeting being planned for the rest of the day...A second passed in which he contemplated what was going on, before taking in Natahlie's appearance, noting that she didn't look harried in the least. She, just like him, were well-known for their ability to mask their true emotions, though Nathalie was worse at it – and if one knew her well enough, one knew what to look out for.

She wasn't in a hurry.

There was no meeting.

But if she went as far as interrupting him, something urgent must have come up.

"Very well. Madame Dupain-Cheng, my sincerest apologies for having to cut our conversation short – however, I am needed elsewhere. I wish you a productive day and please, do consider the changes I have proposed. We will see each other at dinner."

Then he turned to Nathalie, fixing her with a calculating stare.

"Shall we..?"

x

They walked in silence. Gabriel knew that whatever had to be discuses had to happen out of earshot, so he trained his face to give nothing away and reigned in his curiosity. Patience was a virtue and Gabriel viewed himself as the perfect gentleman.

It was in his office that his assistant finally spoke up.

"Sir, may I remind you of _who she is_?", Nathalie asked, her voice stern as it always was. She fixed him with a glare – so very untypical for her – and awaited his response.

At the very least, she had finally given away the reason for his sudden departure.

"Nathalie, may I inform you that lying is _not_ tolerated in this household?"

"Sir, with all due respect, you are _Hawkmoth_."

"I am aware of that, Nathalie."

They stood in silence after that. Gabriel did not appreciate being torn away from a discussion – especially not one that promised him information on his son. He may not always be _there_ , but he was aware of his surroundings. He knew of Adrien's insomnia and he knew of the nightmares – but all of his inquiries had been met with silence.

He felt powerless. Emilie had always been the "parent-parent", not him, and he didn't know how to reach his son now that their relationship had run so...cold.

He had hoped that the Ladybug girl would know more on the matter and had orchestrated the meeting just so he could ask – carefully constructing a scenario in which his question wouldn't sound too much like an interrogation.

All for naught.

Well, she _did_ live in his house. There would always be more opportunities. And maybe he'd be allowed to see what else the girl had designed.

It was Nathalie, who broke the silence first.

"So, lying is not tolerated, but terrorizing a city is?"

Gabriel's head ripped around and he looked at her, shocked. Was she-Was she serious, was she _doubting_ him, was she thinking of _stopping_?!

"Nathalie, you _know_ why I – we! – are doing what we are doing! You _know_ why..."

"Yes, _I_ know, Sir. But do you?"

Her question caught Gabriel off guard once more, even more so than her previous inquiry. Was she insinuating that he was not taken their mission serious enough? Would she really doubt his intentions?

"What do you mean by that?!"

He knew that his tone was too harsh for the occasion. He trusted Nathalie. He had handed her the Peacock Miraculous after all – even if just to ensure she would not be ensnared by the Akuma.

"You're getting close to the Ladybug girl, Sir."

Gabriel's eyes widened in surprise at her word and he observed her for a moment, before shaking his head.

How could he have ever thought she'd doubt him?

"She's defenseless. There's nothing she can do."

"She's not defenseless. She's _Ladybug_.

"No, she _was_ Ladybug. There's nothing she can do right now. There's nothing she'd _want_ to do right now!"

"With all due respect, _Sir_ , she _is_ Ladybug. With or without the earrings! If she knew what was going on, she wouldn't have such nice little conversations with you like you had just now. If she knew, she wouldn't hesitate to take your Miraculous and to send you in prison!"

"But she _doesn't_ know, Nathalie. She doesn't! She is a talented designer and..."

"But she _may_ , Sir!"

It was the second time Nathalie had interrupted him today and it almost felt as if she was getting desperate.

"And if she _ever_ does, she _will_ hate you. She will fight you and you _will_ lose everything you have fought for! You can't let that happen, Sir! Not after everything you've sacrificed."

She glared at him again and this time she managed to make Gabriel feel small. He averted his gaze from her and let out a sigh.

She wasn't wrong.

"I suppose...", he eventually gave in, his gaze finding the security footage of the living room. The girl was still seated there, sketching into her note book with a concentration and passion that was enviable.

She had asked to bring some flowers to "lighten up the place" and for a second Gabriel had believed it was _Emilie's_ voice that had asked and had allowed it without asking any further questions.

"Well, if that is all, I'll be in my room, Nathalie. _Taking a nap_. Dismissed."

To Gabriel there wasn't anything else to discuss. She had made her point, he had accepted it and they could move on.

He may not like it, but he was no child.

Nathalie, however, wasn't done yet.

"Sir, your son is currently practicing the piano. Chopin, I believe?"

A smile graced Gabriel's feature – Chopin had always been his favorite composer. Emilie had loved anything romantic, including the time period. He had spent endless evenings serenading her on the piano and he had hoped that one day, Adrien could do the same for whoever managed to catch his eye.

"Does it sound well?"

"I do believe so, Sir. However, you may want to see for yourself."

If Gabriel had paid attention, he would have seen Nathalie's stern expression falter – would have seen a glistening of hope in her eyes.

But he still wasn't looking at her.

"No, no. I'm sure he will play perfectly. He is my son after all."

A proud smile spread across his features. Once Emilie would be awakened, he'd ask Adrien to play a concert, just for their little family. She would love it. She'd be proud of him.

Just as proud as he was.

He should probably make room to join him for dinner. That was what his son was asking for all the time, after all. Eating dinner with him.

Ever since the Akuma had taken over, it was much easier to find enough time in his day too! However, it did seem to fail to brighten his son's mood...

"Sir, don't you think it would be...beneficial to your son if you were to...talk to him?"

This time, Gabriel picked up on her worry and looked back at her. But too late. Already had she schooled herself into being the perfect statue.

It was one of the reasons why he had hired her. That, and her close friendship with Emilie.

"Talk to him? What do you mean, Nathalie?"

"Talk to him. It's evening. You have time."

"Why? What...What is there to talk about?"

Gabriel's gaze dropped to the floor.

There was nothing to talk about. They had gotten out of touch.

But...But which parent wouldn't? His son was a teenager! Almost an adult! Of course they'd have trouble finding _safe_ topics they could discuss! Such was life! His life evidently did not _want_ him to talk to him. His questions were usually met with sad puppy eyes and his son's inquiries were simply so...so _unsubstantial._ He did not have to hold small talk with his _own_ son!

(He didn't have to be confronted with his own failings!)

"I will be in my office, Natahlie. I do believe I'll be able to join them for dinner though."

x

Gabriel watched the Ladybug-girl enter through the front gate and then he counted down from ten.

The moment his inner tally reached zero, his son appeared at the door, greeting Marinette like an over-excited puppy.

It was cute to watch them interact.

But he had to be careful. He had to be oh so careful, because, while the girl may be a good friend and may make his son's life so much easier – she was still his enemy.

Nathalie had been right. He wouldn't allow her to get to close. Not with Chat Noir still on the loose.

.

**.o.O.o.**

.

It was evening and Adrien felt exhausted the moment he set foot into the highly decorated hall. It was obvious from the way he walked, though most people would not be able to see through his facade.

Another gala. Another boring event that was pointless and exhausting, but for some reason he had to attend.

The only thing unusual was the attendance of his father. He didn't just stay for one speech – he stayed the entire evening. And he was somehow... _cheerful_.

It was a development Adrien hadn't noticed up to now – or rather, he hadn't put the clues together. He had been to busy wallowing in his own misery or trying to exploit this time he had with Marinette before everything would get fixed to notice his father's _glow-up_. He saw his father smile. Saw him even _laugh_ once.

Adrien didn't know what to make of it. But then again, he didn't get the time to overthink his father's sudden shift in behavior, as he was paraded through the hall like usual, before being snatched away by none other than Chloé Bourgeois.

It would have been sudden, if it hadn't been a normal, and highly anticipated occurrence.

"Adri-kins!"

Chloé's high-pitched voice made several guest look up, just to be quickly shooed away by the mayor'S daughter, dragging him away to a less crowded area.

As much as they had gotten out of touch, she did still know him.

"It's _so_ good to see you again! Can you believe me what my father asked me to do just yesterday? It's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, I say! And _why_ have you not answered any of my texts lately?! Do you have _any_ idea how boring school is without you there?!"

For a second, Chloé hesitated. Then she shook her head and continued.

"I mean, your texts of course! It is a disaster! And I don't even have that Dupain-Cheng brat to amuse me with her clumsiness! Can you imagine? Can you _imagine_?!"

It was...refreshing to talk to Chloé again. Of course, she was still brash and direct and hurtful and everything one thought off when envisioning a spoiled brat – but Adrien couldn't help but find her honesty refreshing.

He didn't get a lot of honesty lately.

He could honestly say that he was greatly enjoying the conservation they were having – until Chloé brought up Marinette.

"And? How's that Dupain-Cheng behaving? How often did your father already threaten to kick her out? Let me guess – everyday at least once? I bet the only reason she's not living on the streets yet is because of the Controller's mercy! Pah, such a pathetic girl!"

That comment didn't sit well with Adrien. At all.

Chloé had always had it out for Marinette for some reason.

"Actually, Chloé, she's doing really well. She still has her internship, is still living with us and my dad even _personally_ complimented her work."

Marinette had excitedly texted him about the incident and had then spent the evening gushing about his father's compliemt and how helpful he had been.

Adrien would have been happy for her, if it hadn't been for the fact that his father hadn't talked to him at all that day. Other than short pleasantries during dinner, in which his father had kept starring at his tablet they hadn't interacted at all.

"Pah. I bet it was pity! Anyway. What did she do? Anything embarrassing? I tell you, that girl is _so_ clumsy, it's laughable!"

"She's-She's not _that_ clumsy", Adrien frowned, before trying to hide behind his glass. He didn't like fighting with Chloé, but he had to tell her off. She was making fun off a close friend of his for no reason other than being cruel.

Marinette wasn't even here to defend herself!

"Are you...Are you defending that...that wannabe fashion designer? Please, Adri-kins, I thought better of you!"

"Of course I'm defending her! Were _friends,_ Chloé! I don't gossip about _friends_."

Chloé rolled her eyes at that, murmuring something that sounded a lot like "Boring", before she frowned.

Then her face lit up in horror and she shrieked:" _Friends_?! You are _friends_ with that human disaster?! What-How...She's-She's so beneath you! You're Paris' most famous teen model! Her parents own a _bakery_! They bake _pastries_ for a living!"

"So what? Those pastries are delicious, by the way!", Adrien shot back, before regretting his words.

No one was supposed to know about the pastries. He was pretty sure Nathalie had figured them out by now and he knew for a fact that the Gorilla had caught him accepting one of them from Marinette, but he also knew that neither of them would _ever_ tell his father.

What if Chloé told him? What if she accidentally let something slip…?

"You can't tell anyone I'm eating those pastries, Chloé", he hissed, while slapping his hand over her mouth, warily checking his surroundings.

Had anyone noticed? God, what if someone had noticed?! Adrien Agreste wasn't supposed to shut up someone else by _literally_ slapping their hands over their mouths!

When he looked back at Chloé, he saw her stare back at him unimpressed, before rolling her eyes and pushing his hand away.

At least she hadn't licked it. She had once done that when they were seven and had made him promise _to never tell anyone_.

"Jeez, Adrien, _of course_ I won't tell your father! He's an old geezer who had it coming, plus, we need some more meat on those bones of yours! We can't get married and become Paris' very own Brangelina if you're starved!"

She flipped her ponytail at that and smiled at him in something that Adrien hoped was humor.

He was never to sure where her affections lay. Did she truly have a crush on him or was she just being her usual, over-the-top self?

No one would truly ever know…

"Ugh, _anyway_...We hardly ever talk anymore, Adrien! It takes you _ages_ to respond to my texts and we haven't had a sleepover since forever!"

She pouted and looked at him from under her lashes.

"Chlo, look, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can just get the evening off – but the next time I do, I'll ask my dad to..."

"Blah, blah, blah. All I hear are empty promises! You don't have to work in the evening, do you? So why not come over then!"

"Chloé, you know it's not possible with the curfew and what not..."

"Ugh, curfew here, curfew there...Could you please just stop? You sound just like everybody else! You're all sucking up to that _stupid_ Controller guy and forgetting the important part! Me! I swear, next time I see that guy, I _will_ tell him just where to put his stupid ru..."

"Chloé!"

It was the second time that evening that Adrien slapped his hands over her mouth, though this time he was considerably more panicked than he had been before.

"You can't just say that", he hissed, eyes darting around, for once happy that no one ever really paid attention to him.

It did make his life easier at times.

"What if someone hears you?! You can't just insult the Controller like that, you'll get in trouble!"

This time, Chloé didn't roll her eyes as she slapped his hands away. Instead, she took a step back, bringing more distance between them and starred at him disappointed.

Somehow, that felt worse.

"I see..."

She pinned him with a different expression, one he couldn't quite read, while she sipped from her glass filled with water, contemplating her next move.

Adrien gulped. She was mad at him. A silent Chloé was a dangerous Chloé, though he didn't know _why_ she would be mad. He tried to _help_ her!

"Well, I guess we should talk about safer topics then? Nice weather we're having today, don't we?"

x

Scrolling through her Instagram feat, Chloé made her way back up to her room, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of it all.

God, was trying to imitate the Controller _really_ becoming a fashion trend? If her _mother_ were here, that would _never_ have happened!

Stupid Controller...and that talk with Adrien had been so disappointing too! He had _refused_ to gossip about that dumb Dupain-Cheng girl and then he had declared her a _friend_.

God, that girl really was insufferable! First she snatched away her seat, then she snatched away her title of _class representative_ and _now_ she had the _audacity_ to try and snatch away _her_ Adri-kins!

Ridiculous! Ut-ter-ly ridiculous!

She had initially hoped that bakery girl's absence would knock down the wannabe journalist a notch (because, _ugh_ , she'd miss her "best friend", like, who even _does_ that?!), but it had somehow made the situation even _worse_. Now, every morning, _without fail_ , Alya would relay all and any "information" she had previously pried from Dupain-Cheng to their classmates, of who most were listening intently.

Watching them form a circle around their "queen" was _pathetic_.

The only other person who could enrapture their fr- _classmates_ that effectively was Lila, who had surprisingly come back to school, and the worst apart was, that, unlike Lila, _Alya wasn't lying_.

She couldn't even laugh about the _ridiculousness_ of her tales, because they were _true_!

Ridiculous!

And to top it all of, Adrien seemed to be as entranced with that _stupid_ Controller guy as everyone else was! She had always known he could be a bit spineless, but _puh-lease_! This was just, just...ridiculous! _Unbelievably_ ridiculous!

And, god, everyone treated him like a god and her like some-some insubordinate _child_!

Quite frankly, Chloé found it _rude_ the way she was treated. She was the _ma_ _y_ _or's_ daughter! Why would she have to obey some ridiculously dressed maniac with a penchant for stupid rules?! She shouldn't have to do as he told her! Who even _was_ he?! Probably some no-good middle class brat with no sense of class...And her father! Her father was _falling_ for him! For it! And there wasn't anything _she_ could do either!

And this whole situation didn't even make sense! Sure, she had thought her dumb _classmates_ to fall for some pretty lies, but not her _father_! That Ladybug girl wouldn't hurt anyone, she _knew_ that! She may not remember (not fully – had...hadn't there been monsters or some other ridiculous stuff?) what exactly was going on, but she _knew_ for a fact that she wouldn't believe those dumb lies!

Ladybug was a hero after all. And at least that mangy cat was good for looking for her. Though he may want to hurry up – Sabrina was all sad and depressed every since a good friend of hers had been taken apparently. Not, that Chloé _cared_. But it was just so _hard_ to play pretend when all Sabrina could do was mope and cry – she may make for a great damsel, but what Chloé _really_ craved was a sidekick.

Maybe if she had one, she could take that Controller down a notch.

Maybe she could ask Adrien. He'd listen to her, that was for sure. And he wouldn't outshine her, the _real_ hero!

But then again, he was a bit spineless and his father was _just a tad_ too strict to allow him to be a proper sidekick.

Maybe she could ask Sabrina, but she was still a sobbing mess.

Ugh, this was _pointless_!

Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!

Well, she'd have to find allies somehow. And if not, then she'd simply save everyone by _herself_.

She was a queen after all.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go. Another chapter read. Good job!
> 
> This one had some more fluff, some more plot development (thank you, Alya) and finally some Chloé ^^ There will probably be some kind of Chloé Bourgeois redemption, but it probably won't go much farther than it went at then end of season two.
> 
> Anyway. Before anyone points out my blatant lack of fashion knowledge, I will do it myself.
> 
> I had absolutely no clue what I was talking about. I hope it wasn't to noticeable. However, I did want Gabriel to give Marinette some kind of advice and I thought buttons are a fairly neutral topic (buttons and colors, that its).
> 
> Conicidentally, another thing I don't have a single clue about is how much time supposedly has passed in the Miraculous Ladybug universe. It must be past Valentines day and it probably started after summer break and one could probably figure out how much time has passed after each season by analyzing all the episodes (did the last one end just before summer break?), but I'm not that clever (nor do I have an attention span long enough to do so - you may have noticed the many, many changes of scenery which is partly due to my own misgivings).
> 
> Now, this is set before Dark Owl (if not, Plagg would know who Ladybug is, making this whole story less convoluted, and we can't have that, now can we?) and we know that no more than one year could have passed so far (I'm pretty sure we would have been told if they had moved up a grade). However, I don't think Hawkmoth would grow desperate that quickly (since this is pre-season three Hawkmoth, he isn't a complete and utter human disaster in my book).
> 
> Anyway. The point I'm trying to make, is that I'm fully aware that in the show, the episodes up to Dark Owl do not tally up to one year, however, due to magic fanfiction reasons (and the lovely canon divergent tag), I will pretend that they did. I know that that means that a lot of things in the show wouldn't necessarily make sense anymore (eg. the birthdays and such), but I'm allowing myself this liberty, simply because I can.
> 
> I also sincerely hope no one hates me for my portrayal of Gabriel – sure, he is a jerk, but this is set pretty much at the beginning of the show and I don't believe he is entirely evil yet.
> 
> "Your name" is a Japanese animated movie (I do subscribe to the fanon that Adrien is a huge weeb) and while the plot is different from this fanfiction, I personally think that one can draw some parallels (due to not wanting to spoil anything, I will not tell you which). Anyway, the movie is pretty good, so I highly recommend it.
> 
> Also, Fun fact: I really like the phrase "utterly ridiculous" and now, thanks to this show, I can't use it anymore without thinking of Chloé.
> 
> I absolutely hate it.
> 
> Read ya later, I'd love to see your guys' comments (they're amazing!) and have a great day/night!
> 
> Bluestpaw


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir was time and time again impressed by just how bitter disappointment could taste. This time, it had probably reached a whole new high. At first he had been delighted, because talking to Marinette was always a delight – but then it had hit him like a punch to the gut. He hadn't wanted to talk to Marinette.
> 
> He had wanted to talk to Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> His fear was substituted by furry now. → something I legitimately wrote before the cogs in my brain could catch up with what I actually putting on paper.
> 
> I should not be allowed to type anything before eight o'clock.
> 
> * Clears throat * Anyhow, hello there, my dearest readers. As you may have noticed, I have changed the title of this fun little story. But, fear not! This does not mean I've had an epiphany regarding the plot making it even more complicated than it is – not at all – I simply believe this new title fits the story significantly better. After all, we're still quite far away from the part where Marinette gets to remember stuff. Far away. Very far away.
> 
> We'll get there eventually.
> 
> Anyway, thank you to all who commented/left a kudos and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well ^^

**What if all of Paris forgets?**  
**Fifth Chapter**

* * *

"Gosh, it has been ages since we've hung out like this! Why don't we do this more often anymore?"

Frowning, Alya looked up. As much as she could, considering she was sprawled across her bean bag, with her limbs hanging off.

It was probably more accurate to say she lifted her head and shifted it a bit in Marinette's direction in a distorted mockery of the actual movement.

Marinette and Alya had already finished the interview that she had originally come in for. Not that there had been to say. Marinette, just like Alya, didn't really remember what had happened back then and could only answer questions regarding her grandmother. She had been there for her birthday and they had had an argument – because of the surprise birthday party Marinette had wanted to attend. But, for someone reason, the events of that day felt like they were missing something – a good hour or so – and neither girl could come up with an explanation.

"Maybe it was just really boring!", Marinette had offered to which Alya had responded with a fake offended "My parties aren't boring!". Both girls had chuckled at that, before finally settling on a movie to watch for the night.

"It's a pity you're so over-loaded with work...I swear, it's like you're _always_ busy!"

The movie was done by now too and they had gone over to gossiping. It felt wrong, considering it was still the middle of the day, but even this meeting had already cost Marinette one of her precious "meeting slips" handed out by the Controller and after-curfew permits sadly weren't granted for movie night. Plus, Marinette had work in the morning, so neither girl wanted to risk a sleepover.

"I'm sorry Alya, it's just with the internship _and_ my schoolwork it does get a bit too much sometimes..."

"Sucks – but I'm glad that you could make it today!"

Alya gave Marinette a radiant smile – before it turned devious and she started waggling her eyebrows.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

"Soooo, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng since we're officially gossiping now...It has come to my ears that _someone –_ and with someone I mean your favorite fashion designer – has a son...who is your age... _and_ a teen supermodel. Anything there you wanna confess, huh?"

Alya's smile was too wide now to be anything but smug and Marinette felt her cheeks heat up against her will. She tried her best to hide her eyes beneath her bangs, but failed spectacularly.

"W-What?! No! He-He isn't! I-I mean, hes ye is, _yes, he is_ , b-but not thike lat! Like that! Like that!"

"He isn't like what, Marinette, hmm? Care to tell me? Any juicy stories you can tell me? Anything worthy of the tabloids? Tell me, what is he like?"

Not that tabloids were allowed, courtesy of the Controller, but that didn't matter to Alya. She could tease her friend even with non-existent things.

But Marinette had gotten strangely quiet after that question. She was still blushing madly, but her eyes were averted from Alya in a thoughtful way and she didn't seem to be all that embarrassed anymore. And when she spoke, she sounded oddly sincere.

"Honestly? He's kind of socially awkward at times. As if he doesn't really know how to interact with people..."

Marinette's eyebrows were furrowed and she still was facing away from Alya, Alya, who hadn't expected that response at all. She had expected to tease Marinette a bit and then hear her complain about him being like Chloé, asll stuck-up and condescending. She hadn't expected to have any heartfelt conversations. They had had those earlier today, when they had talked about Marinette's grandma.

"Socially awkward? You mean to say _the_ Adrien Agreste is socially awkward? Not some arrogant douche or massive flirt?"

"No, not at all! He isn't. I mean, he _tries_ to flirt sometimes..." Marinette chuckled at that, an amused smile adorning her face and for a second Alya felt as if she had heard those exact same words before, but she couldn't remember _when._ "...but he doesn't really mean it. And he's kind of bad at it. Sometimes I get the feeling he got the impression that anime are a picture-perfect portrayal of real life and it's, honestly, quite adorable..."

Alya perked up at that, a sly smile making its way onto her lips once more. Well, _that_ was more the kind of good stuff she had been hoping for.

"Adorable? Did I just hear you say you think he's "adorable"? My, my, Marinette, why don't you just confess your crush on him here and now...", she goaded and to her delight, Marinette' s blush flared up once more.

"I don't have a crush on him!", the girl almost screamed and Alya started laughing smugly. Not a second later and she got hit by a pillow, but it only barely managed to stifle her mirth.

But then, an, yet again unexpected, sadness crept into Marinette's eyes and when she spoke up, it almost sounded like Adrien's life was less glamorous than it appeared.

"I-I really just want to be his friend. He – seems so lonely. I've never seen him talk to someone else our age and the only other friend he ever brought up was Chloé – can you imagine? Chloé? It's like she's his only other friend, besides me, and I don't want to take that away from him. Even – Even if I were to crush on him, it's not the time!"

"Ha! So you _are_ admitting you're crushing on him!"

"What?! No! No! I-I'm not! I'm cot nushing, _not crushing_ on him! Not at all! I-I just told you!"

Alya got hit by the pillow another time, but it did nothing to take away from the confession she had just gotten. She knew it! She _knew_ it!

"He's….He's just a friend! I never even had that "snap" moment, you know? That one moment where you looking someone in the eyes and just...fall?"

Marinette let her head fall back into her pillows, a dreamy smile adorning her face. One day, she'd have a moment like that. A moment where she'd look someone in the eyes and knew in that moment, that her heart had been stolen away, right under her nose. A sigh escaped her lips and she closed her eyes, almost being able to imagine it – a rainy day, on the steps of a building and a pillow in her…

Wait. Wait.

"Alya!"

"What girl? It's not my fault you were all zoned out!"

Marinette sat up again, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Come on Alya, I was thinking..."

"...about that one perfect moment were you fall in love?", Alya finished her sentence and Marinette felt her cheeks heat up _again_. Who could have guessed having a best friend could be so troublesome!

"Come on, Mari, "just falling"? That's not how it works! Just look at me and Nino!"

"But you and Nino had that moment! Back in the zoo! In-In..."

Marinette frowned and stopped in her tracks, completely forgetting the discussion she had with Alya for the time-being. What was their story again? She...couldn't properly reminding. As if she were missing something, an important detail, some part that made the story whole.

And then it clicked. Heatedly, Marinette picked up where she had left up, completely forgetting about the short break she had needed to get the story straight.

"In the cage! You know, when..."

...when Ladybug put you there to keep you safe, was what she wanted to say. Marinette frowned again. That didn't make any sense _,_ because Ladybug was bad and working with Chat Noir! And therefore, why would she ever do anything to keep Alya safe? And from what?

Marinette shook her head. She must have gotten something wrong. There was no way that had happened and Alya seemed to be of similar opinion.

"Locked in a cage? Girl, what are you talking about? We just went to the zoo! And sure, we spent some time together on our own, but that's when I started _thinking_ about him like that. I didn't just suddenly fall in love! Stuff like that takes time!"

"What? No! I-I-that-that's not how _I_ work! I have my "snap" moment and..."

Marinette trailed off. What was she _talking_ about? Who had she ever truly liked? Sure, there had been Nathaniel, but she had never really felt like she had been in love with him. Or had she..? She honestly wasn't sure anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever girl...I bet you and model boy will be a couple even before this internship ends..."

Alya's voiced trailed off at the end and she started scrutinizing Marinette. Her friend shifted uncomfortably under the journalist's stare until she eventually asked:"What is it? Did I say something wrong?"

"No no, it's just...When _does_ your internship end?"

"When my internship ends? I-I don't know."

Which was weird indeed. Maybe it said something on that letter she had received? And then, almost like an afterthought, she added:

"But it has to end eventually, doesn't it?"

.

.o.O.o.

.

Heavy steps echoed through the mansion, as Gabriel Agreste made his way up to the second floor, his expression grim and his posture rigid.

It was Nathalie who made him do this. She had stormed into his office, unusually agitated, just after he had finished giving Marinette feedback on some of her designs.

(It had been a rather relaxing hour or so. Marinette was a clever girl and undoubtedly talented. It almost felt as if he had learned as much during their conversation as she had.)

At first, Gabriel had wanted to call her out on her...unprofessional demanor, but the cold...anger? No, fury, in her eyes had made him stop in his tracks, waiting for her to speak and not daring to respond until she explicitly allowed him to do so.

There weren't many people that could claim to scare Gabriel Agreste and there were even less that could do so on more than one occasion, but Nathalie had always been an exception.

"Sir, may I ask why you have skipped dinner?"

The question had caught him off-guard. He had expected him to have missed something important – a meeting, a deadline – but dinner? He regularly skipped dinner and such an occurrence alone surely didn't deserve such an extreme reaction.

"It...must have slipped my mind. My apologies, Nathalie. I will ask the cooks to bring something up myself. You must not trouble yourself with it."

Gabriel turned away from her, expecting for that to have been the issue – Nathalie had told him on more than one occasion, that if her duties were to include that of a chambermaid, she'd gladly find employment elsewhere – after all, having been the personal assistant to Gabriel Agreste for years at a time surely was an excellent testimonial.

From the way her eyes followed the movement, _that_ had not been the issue.

" _Sir."_

This was not good. She only ever used that tone if she was exceptionally furious.

"Your son was waiting for you all evening. You promised him you would join him."

Gabriel did not respond at once. Instead he leaned back in his chair, hands folded in front of his chest as he regarded Nathalie, irritation spreading on his expression.

"This isn't about dinner, is it."

It was as much a question as it was a statement. He didn't expect Nathalie to lecture him – but all the evidence was pointing towards it.

"Sir, we both know you have more time, now that you do not have to waste countless hours looking for a suitable champion. Yet, you still hardly ever speak to your own son."

Gabriel didn't have an answer for that. He knew she was right. But maybe he...

"He is practicing piano – still Chopin, I believe. You may want to join him _this time_ after you have...finished whatever business you had had with that _Ladybug girl_."

And with that, Nathalie turned and left the room. She didn't even have to gesture for him to follow her.

Gabriel knew when a battle was lost.

x.x.x

Soft notes transformed the usually eerily quiet hallway into something taken from a dream – a dark and magical mirror world, dressed in only black and white, an enchanted palace only set foot in by the most reckless treasure hunters and daredevils.

In the past, the scene may have inspired Gabriel – but right now, he was on a mission.

He couldn't afford getting on Nathalie's bad side. Plus, she wasn't... _wrong_. He had put off patching things up with his son for too long. It may not matter anymore, once he reset the timeline – but still. The time now did exist. The pain his son was undoubtedly feeling was very much real and maybe this would be a good exercise for when he was going back to a normal life. Where Emilie was still here and she hadn't used that cursed Miraculous.

He should make the best of it.

Gabriel hesitated once he reached the door leading to the practice room – should he knock? Should he simply stroll in? Should he wait for one song to end? How _did_ one go about listening to their child practicing their music? Was that a normal thing to do? Should he maybe wait and just...play a board game with Adrien later? Maybe watch a movie?

The music stopped. He could feel Natahlie's eyes burning holes into his suit.

A sigh escaped Gabriel's lips. Fortune favored the brave, or so the saying went, didn't it?

With the feeling of dread settling in his stomach, Gabriel pushed open the door and entered the room, quietly closing it behind him as to not to be disturbed. He wouldn't be able to do this with Nathalie's judging gaze upon his back. Making small talk was bad enough – it simply was so _useless_ – but having to make small talk with his own son because he had forgotten how to start a conversation – that felt significantly worse.

His son's back was still turned to him. He seemingly hadn't heard his father enter.

"You play well, Adrien. You should be proud of yourself."

His son jumped upon hearing his voice and whirled around, almost as if he were feeling guilty about something, but then he relaxed. Was there something he was missing? What could his son possibly feel guilty about?

But the time for contemplation wasn't now and already Adrien was casting his gaze aside – it had been saddened by something Gabriel did not know about.

"I didn't know you were watching me play, father."

It almost sounded accusatory – so much for making small talk.

"I assumed as much. It is not a habit of mine, after all."

Gabriel could barely conceal the disappointment in his voice.

"Will it become one?"

There it was. His first rejection. Talking to his son was pointless. Neither of them wanted this. But Gabriel could feel Natahlie stare at the back of his head (even through a closed door), so he didn't dare to leave the conversation just yet.

Bitterness somehow always tasted worse when one hadn't actually eaten it.

"Of course not, son."

The "Oh" that followed almost sounded as disappointed as he felt, but the silence that followed seemed to swallow any kind of understanding they could have come to in that moment.

Gabriel sighed once more. Nathalie had told him to extend an Olive Branch. Well, he could give it one last try. There was nothing else to do and he did not want for this kind of behavior to extent to the new time line – if anyone was better at making him feel terrible about himself than Nathalie was, then it was Emilie.

"You're playing Chopin, aren't you? He used to be my favorite composer when I was younger."

A beat of silence. Then:

"Really? What changed?"

For a moment, Gabriel found himself thrown back to a dinner party he had once been forced to attend and if he recalled, he had had the exact same conversation with an investor. But then again, he didn't need to lie to Adrien like ha had lied to said investor.

"I don't like the melancholy of it anymore."

Adrien didn't respond to that and neither did Gabriel add anything. The silence descended upon them once more, like hungry vultures. He had hoped that being honest may help them find a way to talk – to maybe, even comfort each other but his hope had been in vain.

Gabriel let out a sigh before turning to leave, his son's eyes following his...retreat. He halted at the door one last time, hoping for his son to say something, _anything_. And that second was all that Adrien needed to find his voice once again.

"I-I can play something else, if you wish, father. Maybe something...less melancholic?"

If Gabriel hadn't turned his back to him, Adrien would have seen the hint of a smile grace his father's lips. As it was, all he saw was his father turning back around, his frozen mask back in place. Only the smallest glint of happiness in his eyes betrayed his real feelings.

"I...would like that very much. Do you, by any chance, know hot to play "Le gallop infernal"?"

The smile that Adrien gave him as he started to play was one of the most brilliant he had ever seen.

It greatly reminded him Emilie's.

.

.o.O.o.

.

Chat Noir had never been much of a planner. That was Ladybug's job and honestly, he had been just fine with it. He liked being able to throw himself into battle and for once – just for once! - not having to be the picture perfect son his father wanted him to be. As Chat Noir, he could follow Ladybug's lead and distract the Akuma and be the punning dork he had always secretly been – it was a dream come true.

But Ladybug wasn't here anymore and just charging into battle or in this case, following every single girl in Paris that happened to have black hair, wasn't going to get him anywhere. Chat could only patrol so much of Paris without going stir crazy and there was always the chance he'd miss her, on the rare occasion that she was allowed to leave the house.

Without a plan, he would never turn up any results.

Thus, a second list was made. The first list held all of Ladybug's qualities – all the things that had made him fall for her lest he forgot about them – and a detailed description of what she looked like – to help him recognize her. Chat had even tried to draw her from mind, without the mask, but even with the millions of reference pictures of her that he owned, he hadn't produced any useful results.

And now, he had a second list. He had read and reared every single post on the Ladyblog (it was still up – he had to use VPN to access it, but all the information was still out there), analyzing all the footage he could find. He had tried to remember every Akuma battle as of yet, trying to recall when Ladybug had appeared, from which direction she had come and which direction she had left again at the end of the battle. Chat had poured of every single last detail until he felt confident that he could narrow down the place she lived at to the 20th, 21th, third or fourth arrondissement. It was still a huge area he had to navigate – 11.422 square kilometer to be exact – but it was roughly a tenth of the area he had to cover beforehand.

Knowing that, made Chat hopeful again. All in all, things weren't too bad at the moment – sure, he wasn't allowed to elave the house, but he had Marinette to keep him company and sure, Paris was being terrorized by an Akuma without even knowing, but things were looking up.

Adrien got up from his chair, starring out of the window and narrowing his eyes. If she really lived this close, perhaps they had known each other in real life. She might have even attended Francoise Dupont high school – she had always seemed suspiciously familiar with its layout. It wasn't the first time that idea had crossed his mind, but Adrien had never allowed himself the luxury to entertain that idea for too long. Ladybug had asked him to keep their identities secret, even from each other, and he had always honored her wishes.

But right now he couldn't do that anymore.

The feeling of anticipation settled in his stomach – telling him of something great. He could almost taste the victory.

And, with a single, determined call for his transformation, he was out of his window, scouring Paris for his lady.

x

Parisian streets weren't supposed to be lonely. Parisian streets were supposed to be walked on by the most diverse people – a father bringing his kids to school, a business woman hurrying to work. Parisian streets weren't supposed to be walked on by one lone girl, refusing to turn around as shivers kept creeping up on her. Steadily, Marinette's steps dragged her closer and closer to the mansion. Her eyes were glued to the floor as she tried to keep herself from breaking into a sprint. She was hugging herself and it was her own paranoia that kept her from turning around, scanning her surroundings for any ghost that would possibly dare to be out and about.

Someone was following her. Marinette didn't know who or what, but she could feel their stare burning into her neck and could hear the steadily closer coming steps between every breath she took. It felt just like that time she had been stalked before and just like back then, Marinette was in panic.

Would she be able to defend herself? Would she be able to get to someone else in time?

She hugged herself and her pace quickened.

The burning stare got closer.

Maybe she'd come across a patrol! They'd keep her safe, they kept all of _Paris_ safe! If she just walked a bit faster – and then Marinette started sprinting. Screw that dumb "no running" rule. She didn't have time for it.

But the gaze got closer. She could _feel_ it and it made her shake even more. A patrol, _she needed a patrol_.

There was still no patrol in sight.

Marinette started sprinting. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep up the pace but _anything_ to get away from that burning stare.

For a second, she almost though she heard a "No, wait!" between the loud echoes of her footsteps and the ragged breaths she managed to snap up, but she wasn't sure and she was too scared to turn around.

_A patrol, a patrol, a patrol._

The footsteps got closer. And closer. And closer and closer and closer and closer and closer and...

And then she felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. Heard a whispered "Wait!".

Marinette didn't waste time in spinning around, using her momentum to try and shove her attacker away. Already she could imagine them falling back and her shouting for help ( _god_ , why hadn't she _shouted_?!) and then someone, _anyone_ helping her.

But she didn't succeed. Before her hands could make contact with her attacker's chest, her wrists were caught and green eyes stunned her into silence.

Marinette's eyes widened.

Chat Noir. She'd recognize those eyes anywhere. There was a strange sense of familarity in them that, at first, put her to ease.

But then she remembered the stories Alya had told her.

" _They say he attacked a girl walking home late in the afternoon!"_

" _He keeps walking up to people! It's super weird!"_

And when Alya had told her Marinette had laughed it off and had asked whether she was sure these rumors were true, but right now, Chat Noir was gripping her wrist too tightly and he was starring at her with a smile she couldn't read and he was standing _too close_ and...

"Mar...My princess?"

And Marinette froze. Completely froze. Her breath turned to pants. Her thoughts turned to a steady stream on nonsense.

My _princess_. He had called her "my princess". Wh-What did he mean by that?! What-What was he _planning_?!

She would have never considered those rumors, but Chat Noir was still too close and stared at her too intently and he _still_ held her wrists.

Marinette's gaze snapped back into focus and she ripped her wrists free from his grasp. She stumbled back a few steps but caught herself in time, clenching her hands into fists.

She had to get away from him. He was planning something – he had to, why would he call her _princess_ if he didn't?! - and she would not be a foolish victim.

She knew how to fight back.

"What-What do you want from me!", she shouted – maybe she'd attract someone's attention, maybe a patrol, anyone. Chat flinched back at her voice, starring at her wide-eyed, his hands cautiously held in front of him.

And if he had stayed that way, Marinette would have calmed down. He seemed harmless enough – in fact, he seemed downright _frightened_ – and Marinette still couldn't imagine him at being downright evil. But he had followed her and he had come too close and then he called her _princess_ and it was weird.

He was a looked for criminal. God knows what he wanted. Was he going to rob her? Had she been that wrong all along?

But he didn't stay away. He stretched his hands out towards her and she didn't understand _what_ he was saying, but it didn't matter because his hands _were getting closer_.

So Marinette did the only reasonable thing. She punched him in the gut and then turned and fled.

.

.o.O.o.

.

_He got the call half an hour later. Apparently, he had been her emergency contact._

" _We are sorry to inform you..." "Please get to the hospital as soon as possible..."._

_He had heard these words before. In shows. Had read them in books. But he had never expected to hear them being said to him. He had never...Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh...Hospital. She was in hospital._

_His one true love was in hospital._

_His phone slipped from his hand._

_God, god, god, why?! Why her?! Why had she even gotten into the car to begin with?! How...How dare she!_

_He fell to his knees, sobbing. What had he done? What...If he simply hadn't argued, if he...if he had just not said anything! He hadn't...hadn't...A sob interrupted his thoughts, he curled up into a ball, laying in the now empty living room._

_It felt cold. So, so cold without her. If he had simply let her go, let her be! He hadn't meant for her to feel cornered! God, he had never...He had been worried! He had been worried, all those plans were meant for her, all those…! Another sob. Another cry. What had he done? What had he done?!_

_Without thinking, he grabbed for the remote control. Maybe the news said something he didn't knew yet. Maybe they would relieve him from his grief._

_He was too distracted, to notice the purple butterfly._

" _Controller. You are angered by the..."_

_Louis' eyes flew open and he went rigid. No. No!_

" _...grant you the power to..."_

"NO! _"_

_He got up, trying his best to shake the purple mask from his face, but to no avail._

" _It was_ my _fault! Mine!"_

 _No one else should have to suffer for his mistakes. No one else deserved this but him, after all_ he _had cornered her, had made her..._

" _But, Louis..."_

_His name. The-the man knew his name!_

" _You were right. What if she hadn't left? What if you had been able to stop her? What if she had listened to her? What if the other driver hadn't been drunk?"_

_The...the other driver had been drunk too? The other…_

" _Just imagine...Just imagine how much safer the world would be! How much better, if everyone just followed the rules. If everything were to be controlled by you. You've always been great at making plans, haven't you..?"_

_The man knew he shouldn't listen to this voice. He had never been akumatized – had never heard this voice before, had never felt the hopeful surge that encompassed him at the other man's voice. But he had read stories. Had seen the news. This was Hawkmoth. This was Hawkmoth and he had chosen him as his next victim._

_And Louis found himself faltering._

" _Don't you want safety? Don't you want to keep everyone safe? If people just followed the rules..."_

_He did. He wanted to keep everyone safe. He wanted to keep everything going the way it was supposed to go. But...Akuma's were dangerous! They didn't keep anyone safe!_

" _I can offer you power, unlimited power. You can keep them all safe. No one will ever again die on your watch..."_

_The man's eyes shot open, but all he saw was darkness. No..!_

" _You'll never have to be guilty of someone not coming back home ever again..."_

_No! This...This hadn't been his fault!_

" _Because they'll all listen to_ you _. Because they will all follow the rules you know that are right. Don't you want that?"_

_Yes, but-but…_

" _You could stop every stupid accident from happening, every single one. All you have to do is bring me the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous...Don't you want the masses to listen?"_

_Listen...They just had to listen._

_It was the man's last thought before the Controller took over._

X

" _I feel terrible, Nathalie_. _I feel disgusted by myself."_

_Gabriel's voice carried through the observatory, his transformation not yet fading away. His assistant was standing behind him, dutiful as ever. He had called for her, after feeling the first signs of anger that this man displayed – when his girlfriend hadn't listened and he had panicked._

_Hawkmoth had thought that anger could fester. That a more powerful Akuma could take shape if he just waited._

_He had been right._

" _Gabriel, what you are doing may be wrong – but think of what we'll lose if we don't. You have always held back. Maybe this time – maybe this time you will finally get the Miraculous. Maybe this is exactly what we needed."_

_Gabriel looked outside once more, feeling for the inner connection he shared with his newest chosen. Nathalie was right. He had never dared to mess with too much anger – with grief, desperation. His targets had been embarrassed, humiliated or had some other petty reason to be mad. But nothing had ever been truly lasting, been truly horrifying. Nothing had ever been a problem so significant it could destroy someone's life._

_Maybe...Maybe this_ was _the chance he had always needed. And thus, Gabriel vanished and Hawkmoth emerged and when he spoke to the Controller, he felt as if today was going to be a good day._

.

.o.O.o.

.

Marinette had never in her life thought she'd meet Chat Noir face to face. And definitely not the way she had just now. She still felt shook from what had happened. Had he-Had he _followed_ her?! We-Were the stories true! But she could have sworn that-that…

She was an idiot. Why would she even think the _Controller_ would lie about something like that! hadn't he protected Paris for months, just having everyone's best interest in mind?

But Chat Noir – Right now, Chat Noir was old news. Right now, Chat Noir wasn't the reason why Marinette was shaking.

She hadn't watched the broadcasts. And she had never taken her time to look up the rules.

"We – need – to – take – you – to – the – station – Made-moi-selle."

Speechless, Marinette stared at the robots, standing in front of her.

"You – have – broken – the ad-vice. We – need – to -detain – you."

"What, but – but what did I do?"

The robots got closer and instinctively, Marinette flinched back, eyes wide in panic. She should have watched the broadcasts, should have looked up the rules. But she hadn't and now...now…

"Made-moi-selle – please – stop – re-sis-ting."

"What? No, I-I'm not resisting! I just want to know what's going on! What do you want from me! What did I do?!"

She stepped back farther, her gaze switching between the two robots in front of her. If she had been panicked when Chat Noir had approached her, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. No one knew where exactly the people taken from the streets vanished to – and Marinette didn't want to know.

"Made-moi-selle – you – need – to – be – detained – for – going – against – the – issued – ad-vice. Please – do -not – resist – arrest."

"What, no! Tell me what I did wrong!"

"We – do – not – wish – to -hurt – you – Made-moi-selle."

The robots got closer and soon enough, Marinette felt herself backed into a corner.

"What. No! No!"

What had she done? Why did they want to arrest her! She couldn't get arrested, god knows where they would drag her, she didn't _want_ to be sent to a re-education camp she didn't…

They grabbed her wirst.

"No! No! Let go of me! I said, _let go of me_!"

But they didn't. And slowly, Marinette was dragged away.

x

Chat Noir was time and time again impressed by just how _bitter_ disappointment could taste. This time, it had probably reached a whole new high.

Talking to Marinette had been a disappointment already. When he had first seen the girl he had felt convinced – she simply had to be Ladybug. She just looked _exactly_ like the girl from the first time. The way she walked, the way she held herself, even her clothes!

And then he had caught up to her and she had turned around and it had been Marinette and at first Chat had been delighted, because talking to Marinette was always a delight – but then it had hit him like a punch to the gut. He hadn't wanted to talk to Marinette.

He had wanted to talk to Ladybug.

And then, he had quite literally been punched. By Marinette. The one person he had thought was on his side. He hadn't even had the strength to run after her, to apologize for following her, for scaring her like that. He hadn't meant to do so – he _never_ meant to do so – but he had to save Paris and what else was he supposed to do? Other than waiting for Hawkmoth to make his next move, he had no other place to start his investigation at. The Akuma still refused to show himself and any search for him turned out to be fruitless and Plagg didn't allow him to check out Notre Dame as Adrien either – a safety precaution. It was a hopeless situation. They couldn't risk the ring and Plagg's attempt at connecting with "the guardian" – whoever that was – had been fruitless.

A silent sob escaped Chat's lips as he sat on a lonely rooftop, waiting for Plagg to finish his meal.

Marinette had _punched_ him. Because she had been _scared_. He still hadn't made any progress in finding Ladybug and Marinette had _punched him_.

Marinette, the one person he had wanted to have on his good side, was now scared of him.

Another sob. Well, that was yet another first meeting he could add to his long list of failures, wasn't it?

Adrien didn't notice Plagg float up next to him and willfully ignored the small god clearing his throat. He didn't even answer when Plagg said:"Kid. Come on.". He until the small god cleared his throat and commented:"Kid. Come on." He wasn't in the mood to transform yet – being Chat Noir would only remind him of what he had done.

But Plagg wasn't done yet.

"Kid, Come on. You've gotta transform."

Adrien scoffed at that. Sure. Transform. Because _that_ would solve all of his problems!

"Why? So I can ruin my reputation even more than I already did? Hey, maybe I can get punched into my face this time?"

He sounded snarky than intended, but he didn't want to listen to Plagg's ever condescending voice telling him what to do and to just suck it up.

"Kid. No. You still have to do something as Chat Noir and..."

Adrien groaned and moved away from his Kwami, scowling at him.

"Can't you just let me suffer in silence for _once,_ Plagg? I fucked up and-and I just need a break right now."

Adrien buried his face in his arms once more, trying his best to swallow the lump in his throat. Being found crying on a rooftop wouldn't help his situation at all.

Plagg gave him all of ten seconds to do that, before he spoke up again.

"You said she's the only one who still believes in you – Chat you, that is –, didn't you?"

Adrien sobbed again. Well, that had been a total disaster, hadn't it? But, nonetheless, he glanced at his Kwami for a second, taking in the god's expression. He was going somewhere with this and while most of Adrien's self wanted to stubbornly block anything the Kwami was saying, another part was curious. Because this was Plagg and Plagg had been nothing than supporting although it went completely against who he usually was.

"Do you know anyone else who even _considered_ me not being "evil"? All of Paris has turned on me!", Adrien responded, biting his lip in anger now. They had _turned_ on him. The very people he had died for to protect had simply...forgotten about that.

He threw his head back, closing his eyes and wishing for the sky to eat him up. That would end his suffering.

Sadly, that did not happen. However, what did happen was a tiny, angry god getting uncomfortably close to his face and practically screaming:"Great! Then. Get. Up. Now!"

Adrien flinched back, staring at Plagg in fear – Plagg was snarky and lazy and a jerk at best of times, but he hardly ever heard him _shout_ – unable to avert his eyes. The shift in demeanor was confusing and Plagg's green eyes pinned to where he was sitting. After a short pause, his Kwami's eyes narrowed and he let up a bit, but never floated away too far.

"If she's your only possible ally, then what are you waiting for?! Go! Transform and apologize! If she's the only one willing in this city to help you, then _why_ would you risk that?! Get moving, kid! I'll transform you _myself_ if that is what it takes to get you going!"

At first, Adrien was amazed at Plagg's commitment to this – he had never transformed him himself before and quite frankly, Adrien hadn't even known that was possible. But then, he looked into Plagg's eyes that were _so_ close right now, almost as close as Marinette and he had been earlier, and while Plagg's eyes were filled with fury, he could only remember the cold fear that had gripped Marinette's.

He couldn't meet her again. He wouldn't put her through that a second time.

Slumping his shoulders, Adrien swung around again, facing east now, stunning his Kwami into silence.

"It'd be pointless, Plagg. I-she wouldn't accept an apology from me anyway. Don't you know? I'm Paris' most wanted!"

"What? That doesn't make any sense! She told you herself that she didn't think Chat Noir is evil!"

"Well, that opinion had most definitely successfully been changed by me now!"

"You can't know that! You haven't even talked to her!"

"I _can't_ talk to her! She hates me! And she wouldn't want my apology anyway! It's like that gum accident all over again!"

"But she accepted her apology back then! What is your problem now?!"

"Great! Ok! I'll apologize _tomorrow_! I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to see me today _anyway_!"

"Tomorrow?! Tomorrow will be too late! Get your a..."

"Let go of me! I said, _let go of me_!"

At once, both of them stopped their bickering. The voice hadn't been loud – it had barely been a whisper – but both off their hearing was above average and both of the knew that voice.

And Adrien hadn't expected to hear it. Not sounding like that. His eyes widened and anything that happened before was forgotten at once.

"Plagg..."

"Yeah, yeah, go save your prince…!"

"Claws out!"

.

.o.O.o.

.

He was awoken by chipper birds, boldly proclaiming the worlds beauty to anyone who took a moment to listen. A stream was flowing by, not too far off, and a slow breeze promised tranquility.

Tranquility that Master Fu desperately needed, as he was sipping away at his morning tea, contemplating his next move. Wayzz was not too far off, silently mediating. The Kwami was unusually on edge lately and Master Fu wished he could do something to ease the pain – but he was powerless.

This situation as not one to be treated carelessly.

The cottage he called his home stood in a picturesque landscape. West of Paris, maybe two hours away by car, and it had been fully unaffected by the Controller. The cottage stood far away from any village and had belonged to Marianne's family before she had moved to Paris. But she had never sold it and they key to it had been in the same old flower pot it had always been in.

"Fu? Isn't it a bit too cold to stay out here this early in the morning?"

A smile grazed his lips when he heard her voice – he had been relieved to learn that while Marianne hadn't stayed completely unaffected by the Controller's power, her will had been strong enough to resist the worst of it. And, after a month or so, she had reclaimed even that last bit of her mind

"It is never too cold to enjoy nature, Marianne. And I find the cold relaxing. It helps me focus on the troubles that lay ahead."

"Those troubles won't be solved by you getting a cold. Come back inside – I have prepared breakfast and I even got some tea leaves for Wayzz!"

A chuckle escaped his throat and he allowed himself to get up, stretching once, before turning and facing his beloved.

"With a promise like that, I doubt the strongest of mediation could withstand..."

x

Marianne's panjas bracelet, the camouflaged Tiger Miraculous, clinked loudly against her plate and the woman smiled down at it, happily watching it reflect the sunlight. She had missed Roaar. Fu had occasionally lent her the Miraculous, whenever she had gone out to fight against the various goons that took advantage of the poor that had suffered from the Great Depression. Fu had given it to her for her bravery in face of all the adversities of life – a trait of hers that hadn't diminished throughout the years and one he greatly cherished, to this day still.

Even if it had let to plenty a fight during the time they had spent here. And from the way Marianne looked up at him now, drawing strength from the Miraculous he had trusted her with.

"Fu, we need to do something. We can't just stay and wait for everything to sort itself out."

Marianne sounded more accusatory than she had intended, but it didn't matter. Wayzz had found his way close to her – now that Roaar had abandoned Marianne's shoulder in favor of looking through the kitchen – nodding along, and she had a cause to fight for. She was not going to let this go.

"We cannot risk the other Miraculous', Marianne. We have talked about this – the stakes are simply too high."

"So we'll just let Chat Nori fight on his own?"

Master Fu averted his eyes, uable to face the rightful fury in Marianne's eyes. He had anticipated that accusation, but no matter how well prepared one was, it never took away from the pain.

Fu was the one who had chosen that boy and now he was bound to a simple cottage outside of Paris, hoping the boy could fight his way out of it all on his own. But Marinette was gone, lost in that mansion turned prison. Locked up there like Adrien was. There was nothing he could do.

He just needed a plan. Just a bit more time, maybe they could train and become heroes on their own...

"I agree with Marianne, master! We have to do something! We can't leave Paris like this!"

Wayzz disagreeing with him was not a first by far – but it happening so openly was still unexpected. Master Fu leaned back in contemplation.

"I have faith in Chat Noir, Wayzz. And so should you."

It was clear from their faces, that both, Wayzz and Marianne, disagreed. Soundly. But he had heard their words before, well, mainly Marianne's, and his mind was set.

"But Master! Paris is suffering!" "I trust Chat Noir, but how is he supposed to battle this Akuma!" "People are dying! This is not about trust!" "He is just a child!" "Master, Chat Noir has yet to unlock his Miraculous entire power! How could he possibly fight back against Hawkmoth and an Akuma all on his own?!"

He had heard all of it before. His mind was…

"We can't just hide and wait it out this time, Fu!"

Master Fu froze upon hearing Marianne's words. His eyes snapped back to hers.

"This time there is no one else. It's just us. And Chat Noir."

No. She was wrong.

"Other countries are always growing restless. I am sure if we just..."

Not a second after the words had left his mouth, Fu saw the anger flaming up in Marianne's eyes. She may have been older than she had before, but she had not forgotten who she was.

"If we just what? What, Fu! We _can't wait it out_! Only the Ladybug Miraculous can undo all this damage! And how would anyone else even resist! No army in this world is equipped to fight him! _We_ need to do something, because we're the only ones who can!"

Master Fu knew that, while Marianne had understood and supported his decision to leave for London – she hadn't been happy.

"This is not the same like last time. This isn't a human war – it's one of Miraculous'. Chat doesn't stand a chance if we don't get Marinette back! We _need_ to do something! We may be old, but are we really too old to make a difference?"

.

.o.O.o.

.

Marinette was done with today. She was _so_ done. It had started off just fine but then it had only progressively gotten worse.

When Chat Noir had successfully distracted the robots and then had smashed them to pieces ("Don't worry, they're not human! Ap – purr – ently, they're just a bunch of screws that have been ordered to behave this way – I swear, Akuma magic is _weird_ "), he had turned to her once more and at first, Marinette had been scared.

But then she had remembered he had just saved her.

And then? Then he _opened his mouth_.

"Well, purrincess...Care to explain why you'd paw-ttack this charming, yet roguish, out-claw?"

Puns. Chat Noir liked _puns_. No wonder everyone made him out to be the criminal.

Groaning, Marinette laid her head into her hands while simultaneously trying to scowl at him. This was unbelievable. Couldn't she just go with those robots instead?

"Seriously? Three in a row?"

"Aww, come one princess! You're hurting meow felines! You couldn't paw-sibly want that, could mew?!"

"You're terrible! I should call a patrol on you!"

"Don't you mean "I should call paw-trol on mew"?"

"No! No, I didn't meant that at all! Stop punning! And you already used that one!"

"Oh, so my puns aren't good enough, for you, princess? What kind of cat-titude is that? Must I em-bell-ish my speech with more a-moew-sing puns to please you? Please, do paw-don me. I'm sure I know some purr-fect puns that you'll find hiss-terical, I'm not kitten around!"

Marinette willed the corners of her mouth to stay down and to _not_ given in to an amused smile – or a-mew-sed, as he would put it. He didn't deserve the victory. His ego was bad enough as it was.

"Still not sat-hiss-fied? I'm litter-ally all out of options by now!"

"Stop! Stop! Enough puns for today! I get it! You're the pun master! You're even worse than my dad!"

Chat smiled at that and leaned back, seemingly satisfied. They fell into a comfortable silence and neither of them said anything for a minute or two – until, there was a sudden shift in atmosphere. Chat averted his eyes from her, his gaze shifting from mirthful to sheepish and he nervously rubbed his neck. The tension in the air was tangible and Marinette wondered what had happened to get home to change so drastically. So far, he seemed to be harmless, a bit of a flirt, but harmless.

But the way he looked now? He looked much less like the jokester she had taken him for.

"Uh, by the way, that-that question? The one I asked just now? I – it – I meant it. Why _did_ you punch me?"

He looked at her in wonder and now the moment of playful banter was truly broken and Marinette remembered once more what Chat had done. Looking up at him, she narrowed her eyes and her scowl turned from harmless to serious. Chat seemed to notice her change in demeanor and stepped back, holding up his hands in a universal way of saying "I mean no harm".

He was right to do so, as Marinette could feel rightful fury built up in her.

"You-You called my "princess"! What the hell was I supposed to think about that?!"

A silent "Oh" fell from his lips as she stood there, in front of him, her hands now clenched into fists.

"You-You followed me for several blocks! And then just-just _attack_ me and you're surprised I get scared?!"

She probably shouldn't sound accusatory – he had just helped her get away from these robots – but Marinette couldn't help it. She just didn't understand. What had he wanted from her?

"I-I'm sorry."

His apology caught her off-guard and the way he sheepishly rubbed his neck gave a picture of sincerity she hadn't expected from a "charming, yet roguish outlaw" (she refused to add the pun. She simply refused).

"I-I didn't think of that. It must have been pretty scary for you, huh?"

The way he was looking at her made Marinette's breath hitch and colored her cheeks a rosy pink.

"I'm looking for someone and..."

He let out a sigh, turning away from Marinette, a longing expression substituting the former sincerity.

"She has black hair and pigtails just like you and you're about the same height, so I just...hoped you'd be her."

He looked back at her and now he was wearing a warm smile that made her heart soar. And then it fell away and he flattened his ears to his head, looking more adorable than ever.

"I-I'm still sorry. That didn't make it right and – and I should have know you weren't who I was looking for. I-I wish I could make it up to you and..."

Chat trailed off and all Marinette wanted to do was to hug him.

But she didn't get to do it, as Chat's eyes snapped back to her and now they were filled with a light brighter than the sun and, for a second, Marinette thought she heard a "snap" in the faraway distance.

"Hey, do you know why those robots wanted to arrest you? Because, if you don't...I can carry you home? No, scratch that, I _will_ carry you home."

And then, he quickly backtracked:"I-If you feel comfortable with it, that is!"

Chat looked at Marinette hopefully. And Marinette? Marinette couldn't avert her eyes. She had never seen some look so sincere. She had never seen someone look at her like this either and it was only when she saw him shift again and the light turned to worry that she realized he had asked a questions that she was supposed to answer. She spoke before she knew she had decided to do so.

"S-S-Sure!", she stuttered, trying to casually lean back against the wall of the alley they were hiding out in.

"Course of! I-I mean "cof ourse"! Of course! Of course! You-You can carry me anywhere – I mean home! You can carry me home!"

With cheeks painted a blinding rouge, Marinette hid behind her purse, furiously biting her lip. What was going on with her? Why in heaven was she stuttering? This was Chat Noir! There was no reason to stutter! He-He was just some nice boy who had helped get rid of a bunch of robots and looked so honest and sincere and somehow lost but really nice a polite and also kind of funny and...and...

And there was no reason to stutter at all!

Gathering all her courage, Marinette cautiously peeked up from behind her purse and once her eyes connected with his, he suddenly started laughing.

And oh, what a beautiful laughter it was. It wasn't scornful like Chloé's or pitying like that of her friends sometimes – it was bright and clear and sounded like bells ringing in the distance.

It was beautiful.

Chat stood before her, his head thrown back and his eyes closed as he clutched his stomach.

It was contagious too, that laughter of his. Marinette felt her own embarrassment slip away and soon after she joined him, lowering her bag from her face and feeling...free.

It was strange how long ago it had been when she had truly felt that way.

It was strange that she had never noticed until now that she had ever felt like that.

But after some while their laughter died down (if Marinette had been able to read mind, she would have known that Chat had laughed because, _god_ , he had missed this side of her) and then Chat simply looked at her with the most sincere eyes she had ever seen (Well, maybe they were rivaled by a certain other blonde's one) and Marinette felt herself blush again and didn't dare to speak, lest she'd embarrass herself once more.

"Well then, purrincess, shall we?", he offered, his eyes full of playful mirth and if Marinette had been able to trust her mouth, she would have groaned or rolled her eyes and made a snarky comeback, but as it was, Marinette did _not_ trust her mouth and simply nodded, hoping for it not to look to frantic.

And when Chat had safely brought her home, carefully setting her down in her room, taking her hand into his and giving it a chaste peck, before departing with the words "See you around, princess" on his lips, Marinette couldn't help but whisper:"I-I think I'm in love, Tikki."

Which was strange. That she was talking to someone called "Tikki". Her being in love wasn't strange at all.

In fact, Marinette was pretty sure it was true.

.

.o.O.o.

.

Adrien vaulted through the window, de-transforming mid-air, unable to wipe the grin of his face. Marinette didn't hate him anymore. Sure, she had stuttered, but she had accepted his apology and had even let him carry her home! That meant she trusted him, right?

Right?

He didn't get to contemplate that, rather frightening, thought though, courtesy of Plagg. To make matters worse, his Kwami seemed to be set on ruining this evening for him.

"Ugh, wipe that dumb grin off your phase, kid. We don't have time to your swooning."

"I'm not swooning, Plagg!", Adrien protested, half-heartedly, as he tried to dampen the very obvious blush that was spreading on his cheeks. He did _not_ have a crush on Marinette.

Well, maybe he had a small crush on Marinette. But that didn't mean anything!

"Marinette's just a great hugger! And-And I don't get that many hugs! Holding her in my arms just makes me feel so warm and happy and..."

He trailed off when he saw the way Plagg looked at him and blushed even more. Unable to meet his Kwami's eyes, he averted them, willing his dumb blush to finally die down.

It didn't. In fact, it only got worse.

"Yeah, yeah, you're not swooning. Whatever. Kid, we've got more problems than your convoluted love life."

At that Adrien perked up, be it just because it was a convenient change of topic. He was _not_ in love with Marinette, maybe he had a minuscule crush on her, yes, but he was _not_ in love!

And what did it matter if he had a crush on her! She was the only person he talked to – really talked to – most of the time and she was an amazing girl! It was only natural for him to eventually start crushing! But that was it! He was not going to sway from Ladybug – his one true love – just because they hadn't talked in like, what? A month and a half?

Anyway. Plagg had offered him this change of topic and Adrien was not about to complain.

"We have a problem, Plagg? What is it?"

"Can't you hear it?"

Plagg had sat down on his piano, watchful eyes taking in every single one of his reactions. Adrien frowned.

"Can I hear what? What are you talking about?"

The Kwami let out a long sigh, before grumbling something along the lines of "I want double Camenbert for this". He then took a second to stretch. And then, finally…

"Kid. That's the point. You left your phone here, playing whatever song you hadto practice, to go out and look for Spots. And right now? No music..."

"...no phone", Adrien finished the sentence, dread settling in his stomach. Someone had been in this room.

Fuck.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, how do you like the first real cliffhanger of this story? Don't worry, I won't make a habit out of it.
> 
> And also, it's a cliffhanger. For anyone who knows where that term comes from, probably won't be as excited as the rest – everyone else: I have terrible news for you, because I'll be moving soon, so the next chapter won't come out for at least a month – but it will probably take even longer. I'm sorry for the delay, but university is starting and I'm super excited for it!
> 
> In case anyone wonders, the reason why Marinette got intercepted are her pigtails – they got banned, because they are Ladybug's signature hairstyle, but due to Marinette not watching the broadcasts anymore, she didn't know. That information was supposed to be given by the two robots, but that piece of dialogue didn't seem to fit anywhere, so I put it here, at the end.
> 
> Anyway. Lets talk business. Today was our very first Marichat scene – I hope you guys liked it (did that scene inspire me to write this whole story – maybe. You can't prove it and my lips are sealed). There should be more of them in the near future, but then again, never trust my notes. I tend to completely ignore them at times.
> 
> So far, did you like the scene? You probably already guessed where I'm going with this – kind of reversing the lovesquare because I can and also, we can't make it too easy for those two dorks. We need that teenage angst.
> 
> This whole story is based on teenage angst.
> 
> The only thing I didn't like that much is the conversation Adrien has with Plagg – it felt a bit OOC to me, but then again, he is going to some stuff and I couldn't imagine him as still being the optimistic sunshine child we all know and love.
> 
> Other than that, to all those who came here because of Adrinette: It's coming. I had planned a scene for them last chapter (a "real" Adrinette scene that is – the two we had are fluffy, but I personally count them as "Friendship fluff"), but moved it to a later part in the story.
> 
> It should be coming next chapter instead. Probably.
> 
> Again: Never trust my notes.
> 
> I did this not to annoy any of you readers, but because I was hoping to give Adrien more time to "get over" Ladybug (his feelings are worth more than just a month without interactions) and wanted those two to have a more natural evolution before they slide right into the romance department. However, if I do put that Adrinette scene there, it means we have officially entered the "Swooning phase" as I like to call it and I will most likely have to add "pining" to the tags.
> 
> Poor Plagg. But yeah, that's something to look forward to.
> 
> Read you later! Bluestpaw
> 
> Random thing I did while writing this: I was really glad that Alya has a bean bag, because when I at first envisioned the scene they were in Marinette's room, until I realized that wouldn't make sense – thank you Wikipedia for having enough images of the room so I don't have to go through every single episode just to figure out what it looks like.
> 
> Another random thing I found out: According to Wikipedia, the 21th arrondissement doesn't exist, however, the park across from her home, Place des Vosges, does. For the sake of this story, I just pretended the 21th arrondissement equals the 11th in location, as it is still close to the 20th and borders on the 4th and the 3th arrondissement, which is where that park is located in real life.
> 
> Last random thing: "le gallop infernal" is a song that give me some serious Tom and Jerry vibes and, as that one YouTube comment said "This is practically the national anthem of comical mischief". I found that to be very fitting of Chat Noir. Also, in case you're curious, you may know the song under the name "CanCan" as that is the dance performed to it – it originates from Offenbach's probably most famous opera "Orpheus in the underworld". I also completely ignored the fact that the original song doesn't include the piano – let's just ignore that, shall we?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sir. Do you remember to have ever seen Adrien during an Akuma attack. Have we-do we have any record of an attack in which we knew, continuously, where he was?”
> 
> It was a shot in the dark, of course it was, but Nathalie knew Adrien’s eye color by heart and she’d recognize that shade of blonde anywhere.
> 
> -
> 
> No matter what they remembered – Chat Noir and Ladybug would always find back to each other and if that was the only hope he'd have, Master Fu would still happily bet his life on them winning this battle too.
> 
> “We have?”
> 
> “Of course.”
> 
> He turned away from the scene, slowly walking towards his own apartment.
> 
> “We finally know who Hawkmoth is, after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Attention! Starting from now, you’ll be able to get any news regarding updates/progress on my stories on my profile! I’ll try to update the list daily (or, whenever I write) so it should be up to date everytime you look.
> 
> -
> 
> It’s been two months, but here I am with the resolution to that one cliffhanger (I’m still sorry for it, by the way – but I simply couldn’t resist.)
> 
> Also, you may notice that this chapter is a lot shorter than usually, but I liked the place where it left of and didn’t really have any other place to put the last scene – so enjoy a chapter, that for once, isn’t 10k. Yay ^^
> 
> Anyhow, enjoy and see you at the end!

**What if all of Paris forgets?**

**Chapter Six**

**.o.O.o.**

Evenings were Nathalie’s favourite time of the day. It made the mansion’s silence less eerie, it cast long, beautiful shadows across the empty hallways, and, most importantly, it meant work was almost done. It meant she could go to her room, she could lounge on her couch and watch some simple movies while sipping away at a glass of wine.

She may not look like it, but Nathalie cherished her time off. And now, she was almost done for the day – she could clock out early today, a welcome change from her normal busy schedule.

Glancing at the broken Peacock Miraculous pinned to her lapel, Nathalie climbed the last few stairs up to the second floor, following the soft notes of piano music. She checked some things on her tablet as she mindlessly pushed the door open, noting that it creaked slightly – she’d have to tell the janitor.

“Adrien, a problem has come up with tomorrow's photos shoot and...”

It wasn’t a first for Nathalie to barge into Adrien’s room like this to let him know of a spontaneous changes in tomorrow’s schedule. It was quite a regular occurrence, in fact, and by now, they had almost established something akin to a protocol.

Said protocol dictated Adrien to let out a surprised (and unflatteringly _annoyed_ ) “Natahlie?” before she’d tell him about whatever it was today – and maybe, if Adrien hadn’t paid attention, he’d react a few seconds later than usual.

He hadn’t done either of that.

Irritated, she looked up now. Scanned the room (taking in the open window) before zeroing in on the piano stool, where Adrien was supposed to be seated – except he wasn’t.

“Adrien?”

Bewildered, Nathalie entered the room fully now, her brows furrowed. Where was he?

Stepping closer to the piano, she noticed his phone, playing the very song he was supposed to play and her eyes narrowed. It was a playlist containing several songs, most of them repeated at least once.

He had planned this. In fact, he probably hadn’t planed it today, but had made use of this trick before.

Natalie's eye narrowed even further.

It seemed as if her wine would have to wait for now.

**.o.O.o.**

“Sir. Have you...”

Nathalie knew she was walking on thin ice the moment she walked into Gabirle’s office unannounced. And she knew, if she were to ask this question, it’d only grow thinner. But she was looking at Adrien’s phone in her hand and at a picture of him, zoomed in on his ring finger. He was spotting a heavy, gray ring which she couldn’t remember ever having bought or him having worn before – before Ladybug and Chat Noir had thwarted Hawkmoth’s plans for the very first time.

“Nathalie, please speak up. I did not hear you.”

“Sir, have you ever seen Adrien during an Akuma attack?”

She was out of line. She was implying the unthinkable – and, judging by the way Gabriel slowly turned to face her, his expression frozen on his face, Gabriel seemed to think quite the same.

“...What?”

Nathalie gulped nervously, before strengthening her resolve, feeling Duusuu’s warm presence in her breast pocket.

“ _We’re equals in this mission, Nathalie. If we are to catch Chat Noir too, we must work together.”_

They were equals. And she had put herself out there already anyway.

“Sir. Do you remember to have ever seen Adrien during an Akuma attack. Have we-do we have any record of an attack in which we knew, _continuously_ , where he was?”

It was a shot in the dark, of course it was, but Nathalie knew Adrien’s eye color by heart and she’d recognize that shade of blonde anywhere.

She owed it to Emilie to try everything to get he back and it wasn’t like Adrien would remember a thing once they had managed to get a hold of the Black Cat Miraculous.

“Nathalie, what are you going on about?”

But right no, such ideas were too far-fetched anyway.

For now, Natahlie had to convince someone of her suspicions

“Sir, have you ever seen Adrien during an Akuma attack?”

x

Out of all the things Gabriel had expected Nathalie to say – that hadn’t been one of it. What did she even mean by that? Why would she wonder where Adrien was during…

Oh.

No.

Cold fear gripped him in that moment. She couldn’t possibly mean that Adrien was Chat Noit, could she?! How _dare_ she! How dare she insinuate his son, his _own_ son, could possibly be that damned cat?!

“Nathalie – what are you trying to suggest?”

His fear was substituted by fury. She couldn’t be serious. His _own son Chat Noir_? His son was better than that – that pun-crazed weirdo strutting around and ruining his plans!

Nathalie chose not to answer his question, instead walking forwards and putting something on his desk.

“I found this in his room.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

“His...phone?”

Had she gone mad? Did the Peacock Miraculous have any other side effects he didn’t know about? Perhaps he should giver Nathalie the Ladybug Earrings instead – to be on the safe side, of course.

“Yes, sir. I found it in his room, playing the very piano music he was supposed to practice.

That was...troubling, f only because it meant, even after having his memories altered, Adrien still showed signs of disobedience.

“Very well. Reprimand him for his transgression then – I fail to see how that has _anything_ to do with...Akuma attacks.”

“Sir, you must admit that your son shares an eerie resemblance with Paris’ former...hero.”

“Because he has blonde hair?”

“Sir, you have to admit that...”

“I do not have to admit _anything_ , Natahlie! My son is _not_ Chat Noir. Now, go find him, reprimand him and...”

“He’s nowhere to be found, sir. He wasn’t in his room nor anywhere else where he is supposed to be.”

Gabriel frowned. It may be weird but…

“Have you checked with Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?”

“No, sir, but...”

“I assume he is spending time with her. They have become great friends – not that it was unexpected. Weren’t they friends when he still went to school?”

Problem solved. Though they’d have to have a word with his son – having someone his age interning was not a reason to slack of.

“Mister Agreste, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng is currently not at home. She met up with a friend of hers – the ladyblogger, if I recall correctly.”

Gabriel frowned.

“Did I allow her to go?”

“Sir, with all due respect, she is not your daughter. She was on her time off.”

His frown deepened and now he outright scowled at her. If it had been any other employee, they might have shaken in fear.

“Did I not take those measures to _specifically ensure_ that she has _no time_ to meet anyone who might lead Chat Noir to finding her? Why was her schedule open?!”

“Sir, you were afraid you might dampen her creative abilities.”

He had said that, hadn’t he?

“I never took her for someone to willingly fall behind on her schoolwork just to meet with friends – a leap in judgment, I suppose.”

“Sir, she is not falling behind on her schoolwork. In fact, thanks to Adrien’s tutoring, she is now ahead. They...make quite the _formidable team_.”

Maybe Gabriel didn’t hear her insinuation or maybe he didn’t care about it. Whatever the case, the reaction that Nathalie got was not the one she had wished for.

“Hmph.”

He turned around again, watching his wife’s portrait.

“Very well. See to it that Adrien is reprimanded accordingly for his prolonged absence – I do not wish for him to fall behind on his piano practice.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And make sure that Mademoiselle’s schedule is not so open anymore. We need to keep her busy, lest she remembers something... _inconvenient_.”

And that was that.

“Oh. And do please find my son – I need to talk to him over dinner.”

**.o.O.o.**

Fuck.

Adrien was frozen to his place, unable to move as he processed what that single thought meant.

Someone had been in his room. Someone had been in his room, had found his phone playing the song _he_ was supposed to be practicing and failed to find himself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Plagg!”, Adrien hissed, whirling around and starring at the Kwami, nonchalantly stretching in the moonlight.

“What-What am I supposed to do now?!”

He could feel panic building inside of him. This-This was a disaster.

“Just-Just because _Marinette_ doesn’t question my nightly activities, doesn’t mean Nathalie will – or father! What if _father_ was in my room! How am I supposed to explain any of this?!”

He couldn’t even conceal the truth. Even if he were to admit he had taken a walk – and admission which would have landed him into a great deal of trouble even _before_ the Akuma had taken over – how’d he explain he got outside? Marinette hadn’t questioned it further but his father would.

Would-Would his father hand him over? He-he wouldn’t, right? He-He was his father after all!

He _had_ to protect him!

“Plagg!”, Adrien hissed once more, appalled by his Kwami’s total lack of caring:”“ _Help me_!”

“Help you? What am _I_ supposed to do! I’m not known for being creative. That’s Tikki’s thing.”

“That’s not helpful!”

It wasn’t. Adrien didn’t know how far that Controller guy’s control reached. Marinette just had let herself be brought back home by him, well, _Chat Noir_ him, which meant, somehow, she had broken through the whole memory alteration curse, but who knew if anyone else would do the same…!

Maybe he could come up with an explanation, something along the line of having been in the bathroom? But that wouldn’t make any sense! He would have noticed his phone was gone and then he would have talked to Natahlie and god knows when she had noticed his absence anyway! He had been gone for two hours! How’d he explain a two hour long absence?!

“Ugh! Just ask pigtails!”, Plagg groaned, talking through a mouth stuffed full with Camenbert:”She’s creative, isn’t she? I’m sure she can help you...”  
  
And that was how Adrien found himself frantically knocking at Marinette’s door hoping, _praying_ , that she wasn’t doing anything too important right now.

“Adrien? I didn’t expect you to come over today, do you want to play UM...”

“Marinette!”, he interrupted her, squeezing into her room and hectically looking around, before turning on the TV.

“Is everything...”

Adrien whirled around once it was started up, practically flinging himself onto the couch.

“Can we please pretend I’ve been with you the entire day? Please, I’ll pay you back, anything you want, I know you hate liars and I’ll tell you everything...”

He was lying, _lying_ , again, just after she had _trusted_ him, _completely trusted him_ , but he _couldn’t tell her_ and the fact she was coming closer, sitting on the other side of the couch and just _accepted it_ made it all the worse.

“...but you have to promise me to just go along with everything I’m saying, ok? Please, please, please...”

“Adrien, it’s fine, we...”

“Adrien?”

And Adrien froze. Because that – that was Nathalie’s voice.

**.o.O.o.**

His father was mad. Very, very mad.

“You NEGLECTED your STUDIES to play some-some dumb _video games?!_ And not just THAT, you _willfully_ distracted a VALUED intern with your _silly_ ANTICS?!”

His father rarely ever shouted – he usually got that disappointed, mad expression on his face, but he rarely ever shouted.

The more frightening it was now, that he did.

“What on EARTH made you _do_ that?! Have I _not_ raised you well?!”

If Adrien hadn’t been so utterly terrified of his own father, he might have replied saying that he hadn’t raised him at all, but as it was, all he could was stay silent and tremble from fear.

He just hoped Marinette wouldn’t get into trouble for any of this. It hadn’t been her fault he had been to scared to figure something out himself.

“I have asked you a _question_ , _son_ , speak up!”

Adrien flinched, before daring to raise his gaze to meet his father’s.

Was-Was this normal? The longer he had attended public school the more suspicious he had become and now – that he was on the verge of tears – he couldn’t help but wonder if, maybe, he-he should speak up. Tell his father this was _not_ ok.

But he couldn’t. Maybe later. Not now.

“I-I don’t...”

“Speak _up_ , I said!”

“I don’t know what came over me, father! I-I shouldn’t have left my piano practice and-and it won’t happen again, I promise!”

His eyes were tearing up now and Adrien hated himself for it. For sitting here, like this, and-and for getting caught at all!

He simply had to be more careful the next time. Leaving during his scheduled practice had been a bold move – and he’d learn from it. Of course, that would mean he’d only get to properly look for Ladybug on weekends – if he didn’t have a photo shoot on that day, that was – but he could do it. He _had_ to. And maybe, eventually, Hawkmoth would slip up or the Akuma would and this whole mess would solve itself!

Though none of that mattered right now, as his father’s gaze was still burning holes into him and Adrien was unable to speak up, paralyzed by fear.

“You...don’t know what came over you?”

For a second it seemed, almost, as if Gabriel had calmed down and Adrien dared to glance up. His father leaned back, his fingertips touching each other as he scrutinized his son in silent bewilderment – until his expression darkened again and any hope Adrien had had of his father to just-to just _let it be_ for once, came crashing down.

“I see...”, Gabriel said, standing up, his chair loudly scratching over the marbles floor.

“I see. It seems as if the freedom I have trusted you with has gone to your head.”

His father’s gaze was burning into him, and Adrien shifted uncomfortably, feeling the dread settle in. No. No, he wouldn’t, he-he wouldn’t…

“I must have been mistaken, thinking you could _possibly_ be mature enough to use it _wisely_. Therefore, I see myself _forced_ to ensure you will concentrate on your _studies_ once more.”

It wasn’t the first time Adrien had heard those words. It had happened before already, plenty of times in fact. That one time Chloe had snuck him out to try some ice cream. That one time he had been so mad he refused to do anything for two days (it was the day Chloe had told him about her first day in school – and he hadn’t understood why he wasn’t allowed to go either). That one time he had heard his mother cough violently and he had noticed she was doing that an awful lot lately and he had been unable to concentrate on anything that day, his mind too clouded with worry.

His punishment for all those three instances had always been the same.

Adrien’s eyes started tearing up.

“You will, for the foreseeable future, _not_ speak with Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng...”

No.

“...unless _absolutely_ necessary and...”

No! He didn’t want to be alone again! _He didn’t want to be alone again!_

“...considering you seem to have too much free time on your hand, I will ask Natahlie to add some lessons to your schedule – your future is more important than...than _whatever_ it was you were doing instead. Understood?”

Adrien was trembling now, though it wasn’t from fear anymore. This-It wasn’t fair! So what if he had skipped out of his piano practice – his tutor had never once noticed! And Adrien-He couldn’t imagine being alone again. It had been bad enough before he had known what it was like to actually have friends – he didn’t want to go back to that time.

“ _Understood_?!”

“Yes, father.”

Adrien, he-he just hoped this entire nightmare would be over soon. He’d find Ladybug eventually. They defeat the Akuma. She’d use her Miraculous Cure and * poof * everything would go back to normal.

“You are dismissed. And I advice you to _actually_ practice your music this time – next time you're caught skipping your duties, there _will_ be heavier punishment.”

Adrien nodded, his eyes cast to the floor.

“Yes, father.”

He really hoped Marinette wouldn’t pay the price for his transgression. He really, really did.

x

Marinette shifted uncomfortably in her seat, avoiding Monsieur Agreste’s gaze. She was going to get chewed out if the shouting she had heard early was anything to go by. But for now, he seemed to be quite content of simply staring at her.

It wasn’t until five minutes later that Monsieur Agreste finally spoke up.

“When did he show up?”

“Huh?”

“How long did you spent playing-playing this ridiculous video game?”

It was a curious question – why would he care? It was almost as if he knew that Adrien had been gone that time – and they were merely trying to cover it up.

And they hadn’t had time to get their stories straight either.

“I-We just started up the console...”, Marinette responded, still not looking at Gabriel. She wasn’t good at lying, there was _no way_ she’d get out of here without him figuring out what was really going on and god knows what would happen then?

Would Monsieur Agreste go as far as handing his own son over to the Controller? Surely not, right?

“You just started up the console? Then pray, tell, what _were_ you doing before that? Because from what Madame Sancoeur told me, he had been gone for _at least_ half an hour.”

Monsieur Agreste moved closer after spitting out those words and Marinette shrunk in her seat.

She had never imagined Monsieru Agreste to be so – so scary!

“I-uh-I didn’t arrive until a few minutes before Madame Sancoeur arrived at my room, so, I...”

She trailed off, biting her lip. She was doing quite a terrible job wasn’t she? Maybe if…

“ _If one must lie, Marinette, one should stay as close to the truth as possible.”_

It was a strange piece of advice Marinette remember just then, as she had never had any reason to lie to anyone – sure, sometimes she had to invent a little white lie, but when would she ever have received _advice_ on it?

Confused, she shook her head, before remembering she was being interrogated right now – by perhaps the scariest man she had ever encountered.

“Oh. Is that so? Then, may I ask, _why_ did my son _hang_ around your room while he was _supposed_ to practice playing the piano?”

Marinette didn’t know. But then again – she _was_ supposed to stay as close to the truth as possible, wasn’t she?

“I, uh, I don’t know?”, she squeaked out, drawing her shoulder all the way up to her ears.

“You don’t know?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at her.

“I-I don’t. But-But I told him he could come over whenever! Maybe-Maybe he thought I was home already and then...just didn’t feel like leaving?”

That response had to be good enough, right? And it would give Adrien enough playing field to get him out of most trouble, right?

She hoped it did, anyway.

“So-you’re proposing he came over to see you – neglecting his studies in the process – and when he realized you were not in your room, he decided to simply stay and...do what exactly?”

He-He seemed to be buying it, didn’t he? Just a little bit longer...

“I-don’t know? Maybe he read a book, I think I saw...”

What was a book she owned that Adrien didn't? And one he'd realistically read?

“Well, I think he was reading “Empress Cesia Wears Knickerbockers”…?”

“...”

“It-It’s a manga? About fashion design?”

She actually didn’t remember why she owned it or why she had even been reading it – she had never been into manga and it seemed weird to her she had just suddenly started – but she had been reading it when she had needed to pack her things for the internship and had requested for it to be sent over - though she still had to actually finish it.

“A manga is like an...”

“I know what a “manga” is, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng.”

“Oh.”

She nervously bit her lip. Was her answer satisfying e…

“I do hope you realize you are here to _work_ and not to distract my son from his studies.”

What? Surprised, Marinette looked up. What was he getting at?

“Yes-Yes, of course, Monsieur Agreste, and I am deeply grateful for...”

“Very well”, he interrupted her:”Then I expect you to respect my son’s schedule – and I expect you to concentrate on the reason you are _here for_. Not on some-some childish games. Understood?”

Marinette stared at him open-mouthed. All that because-because Adrien had skipped one of his piano classes..?

“I said “Understood?”!”

“Yes. Yes, Monsieur Agreste.”

**.o.O.o.**

It was late evening when Marinette found herself finally done with all her chores for the day – Monsieur Agreste had doubled down to keep her busy and she had never felt as exhausting as she had now, gazing out of her window at a starless sky.

It had always been starless. This was Paris. But somehow, now it felt so much more hopeless.

“Well, well, well what are _you_ doing up so late, puurincess? Its alm...”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

It had been two days ever since Monsieur Agreste had, quite directly, told both, Adrien and Marinette, that they were not to interact with each other for the time being. And while Marinette could understand where he was coming from – those two days had been boring.

She wished she'd have company.

She hadn’t expected for that wish to come true so soon – or suddenly.

“Ma-Marinette? Are you ok?”

Chat Noir was currently leaning into her room via the window she had _just_ gazed out of, worry etched across his face and she felt her cheeks warm up at the way he was looking at her. Her mouth fell dry and she simply stared back at him, from her position on the floor, her eyes blown wide in surprise.

“Marinette? Is...everything alright?”

Oh. Yes. He had asked a question. Quickly, getting to her feet, she said:”Great! Just-Just great! But Chat Noir. You. Here!”

She smiled at him and she knew she smiled too widely, because his expression of worry didn’t disappear. At least the tension in his shoulders seemed to dissipate, as he was seated...on the window’s edge….in clear view of anyone that might pass by-

Marinette’s smile fell.

“Chat. You’re-Get inside, someone could see you!”, she hissed, stepping away from the window, making enough room for him to join her.

Surprised, but not at all hesitant, he followed her advice, somersaulting into the room, before landing on both of his feet in a perfect bow.

“Ta-da!”, he said and Marinette (internally) swooned, before catching herself. Well. As much as she could.

Her heart was a mess _and_ sucked.

Chat, disappointed by Marinette’s apparent lack of, well, care, stood up straight again, looking outside for a moment, before glancing back.

“Anway. Why did you want me to come inside anyway?”

His question caught her off-guard.

“Wha-Why? S-Someone! Someone could have seen you!”

Chat frowned. Then he smirked.

“Marinette. It’s dark outside.”

“S-So?”

“I’m wearing a black costume...”

Chat trailed off, before smirking and leaning closer (and Marinette had to will every single limb in her body _not_ to flinch back at that).

“Hm, purr-ceive someone with a kitten agenda I don’t know of yet?”, he said, waggling his eyebrows and Marinette’s first reaction was to fully freeze over. Then. her eyes widened in shock and she stumbled backward, wildly flailing her hands in front of her.

“I-I would-never! Never! I just – I sas waered, _was scared_ , someone, like a passerby or a robot or-or the Controller, or-or Gabriel! I was scraed onesome – someone – might see you and-and not that I wouldn’t have invited you inside if not – not that I thought about that at all! Causebe – because! Because! I-It’s such a surprise your here at all! What-What hings you brere? _Brings you here_! I-I meant so say _brings you here_!”

She started smiling wider, hoping she hadn’t completely embarrassed herself. But Chat didn’t seem to care all too much. He simply scratched his neck nervously and chuckled, almost as if there was an inside joke here that she wasn't privy to.

“That-That’s great to hear? I’m glad you would have invited me anyway!”

He smiled widely and she smiled back and after roughly a minute it grew too awkward.

Chat’s smile fell. Marinette’s was still frozen onto her face.

“So, yeah. You asked why I was here?”

Marinette nodded, not daring to give a spoken answer – she’d just mumble inaudible nonsense once again. He probably already thought of her as a dork anyway.

“Well, this handsome cat here...”

Chat expected her to whisper “More like “alley cat” in response, but she didn’t and he deflated a little.

“...was in the neighborhood and then I paw you and, well, I thought to myself I could, I don’t know, spent some time hanging around? I hope you don’t mind...”

He gave her his best begging kitten eyes and it seemed to work as she was looking directly into them with her mouth hanging open from surprise.

And then she blurted out:”Don’t you have anyone else to spent time with?”

She also immediately regretted her words, slapping both her hands in front of her mouth.

“Oh, god, I-I’m so, _so_ sorry, I didn’t mean to – I-I’m sure you have plenty of other people to spent time with and-andI’menternallygratefulyouchosetospentitwithmeinstead!”

She was about to grovel at his feet, to beg him not take her too seriously, when Chat simply laughed (although sadly) and scratched his neck.

“No. No, you have a point. I-I don’t really have anyone to spent time with and, well...you didn’t seem to mind me the last time we met?”

“Uh, yeah. I-I don’t. M-m-mind you that is! I don’t mind you being here! I-I’m glad you’re here, be-because you’re ama-NICE! You’re nice! You’re nice!”

Chat beamed at that and Marinette’s entire stomach filled itself with warmth and happiness because _she had done something right_!

“I’m glad you think I’m nice, Marinette – you’re pawfully nice too!”

And with that, Marinette’s confidence went * poof * and she was reduced to the stuttering mess, that she was, once more

Chat didn’t seem to notice though. He walked over to the couch before dropping down, letting out a content sigh. He scanned the room and Marinette still didn’t move, being rooted to her spot.

Chat Noir was here. In her room. And she couldn’t even text Alya to ask for help.

W-What was she supposed to do now?!

“Anyway – I hope I’m not disturbing you?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t have anything else to do right now, did you? You-I just saw you look out the window and I thought you might have some time to spare...”

He looked back at her, smiling hopefully and if Marinette hadn’t felt like she was rooted to her spot already, she’d definitely felt that way right now.

“Uh, no? I-I was actually kind of bored...”

“Great! I mean, not great, but I’m bored, too! Lets...”

Chat trailed off, scanning the room one last time, before his gaze fell back on her.

“Lets play USM!”

At that, Marinette finally felt like she could move again. And did so. By raising her head and furrowing her brows.

“Huh?”

“UMS? Ultra Mecha Strike? The video game? You have it, don’t you?”

Chat tilted his head to the side and Marinette felt her cheeks blush an even darker red.

“Ye-Yes? I-I’m just-I’m just surprised you’d want to play that...”

“Really? Why? We can play something else too, if you want!”

“No! No, it’s fine, I just though, that, I don't know, you’d try to convince me how the Controller is bad and all that stuff...”

“No? I mean, unless you wanted me too...”

He smiled slyly and once again Marinette stopped in her tracks because underneath all that mirth there seemed to be a core of sincerity – and hurt.

She averted her eyes.

“I-No? I don’t think so?”, she mumbled, unable to look up. If she had, she would have seen Chat’s eyes light up with amusement as he leaned closer to her, before saying:”Hm, that did sound like a question...Why, doth thy majesty hath a rebellious streak?”

He looked at her expectantly and Marinette dared to glimpse up at him, but not for too long. They stayed like that for a while, until Chat leaned back and cleared his throat.

“I-No. I’m not here to discuss anything with you or to convince you I-I just needed a break and, well, you seem to be a nice person to be around – not to mention you’re pretty much the first person that didn’t scream bloody murder upon seeing me, so that’s a plus too...”

He smiled at her again, with that underlying hint of sadness and it broke Marinette’s heart. He-He wasn’t a bad guy. Right? Not by heart at least?

Luckily, his sadness didn't stay forever.

“Anyway. Want to play UMS now?”

“Uh-Uh sure!”, she replied, quickly, _too_ quickly, before sitting down next to him and grabbing a controller. And then she added slyly:”But then get mad when I thoroughly beat you up every single time...”

It almost sounded like he responded with a “that sounds more like it.”

But Marinette couldn’t be too sure.

X

It was after game six that Marinette finally looked at the clock and realized just how late it was already.

“Hey, Chat?”

“Hm?”

“I-I think you should leave.”

Marinette hadn’t paid much thought to the exact choice of her words – her eyes were glued to the screen in front of her – and it was only when she felt Chat go rigid next to her, that she realized what that may sound like.

Her eyes widened in horror.

“N-Not like that! Not like that at all! It’s-It’s just that it’s late and, uh, you can come back, of course! You can come back tomorrow if you want! Or don’t! I-It’s up to you, my door’s always open – I mean it’s a window – and also sometimes it technically won’t be open but-but in the literary sense my door is always open! You can come whenever you want! Or don’t want! As-as in you don’t need to feel _forced_ to come either! And-And...”

She trailed off. Let herself sink into the couch’s cushion as she tried not to drown in her own embarrassment.

But, once again, Chat didn’t seem to mind. Instead he chuckled and put his controller aside. He stretched once, before letting out a yawn and he teased:“You’re letting me back in, even after I purrtally defeated you in UMS III?”

That single comment along seemed to free Marinette from her stupor.

“First: That was an absolutely _awful_ pun...”

“Don’t you mean “clawful”, purrincess?”

She had set herself up for that one, hadn’t she?

“And secondly: Please. You won _once_. I’ve won _five_ times. Get off of your high horse.”

“Oh, but I only remember that one time, princess~.”

Marinette was about to quip back, but then she looked up and saw him smiling down at her and-and her breath hitched.

“Uh-y-yeah. I-I nean “Mo”! _I mean “No”_! No! I won square and fair! Squair and fare! _Fair and square_! I-I-ugh.”

She shut up, averting her eyes unable to stand his confused expression. She was a mess. This-This was the second time they had talked, _ever_ , and she was a mess. An absolute mess.

Curse his-his honest eyes and stupid niceness and-and…

“Um, is everything ok? I-I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just trying to make a joke, but I guess...”

“No! No, no! You’re fine-I mean everything’s fine! It was a joke! A-A junny foke! _Funny joke_! You see, I’m laughing, HA HA HA HA!”

She was smiling too widely again and Chat seemed to be less convinced.

“Sooo...you’re ok?”

“Y-Yeah! ‘course!”, she responded and then she added quietly:”Peachy...”

“Hm?”

“N-Nothing! Just-being happy. And-And tired! That’s it! I’m just tired!”

She was smiling too widely again, wasn’t she? Discretely, Marinette tried to hatch a look at her reflection, but failed to do so.

Dammit.

At least Chat didn’t seem to care all that much.

“Tired? Yeah, that makes sense, it _is_ pretty late...I should probably got to take a cat nap soon too – and it is still quite far away from where I live...”

Of course that was a lie and Adrien hated having to lie to her, but if she were ever to betray him…

(He hoped she wouldn’t. She-She was his only real friend right now, besides Plagg, and he couldn’t bear the pain it would mean if she were ever to betray him.)

...he couldn’t risk her giving up any valuable information to the Controller.

Chat got up, vaulting up on the windowsill, before halting and looking back down at Marinette.

“Sweet dreams, Purrincess and – thanks for letting me stay a while. It was nice to just be able to be, you know?”

He tilted his head ever so slightly and the way the light illuminated her in that moment, it almost seemed like she was blushing at his words.

For some reason, that was enough for his stomach to start somersaulting.

“Y-Yeah. Dweet sreams – Sweet Dreams! Sweet Dreams to you too, Chat. It-It was fun. Thank you for joining me today!”

For a second she smiled sweetly at him, but soon that was taken over by a more pensive expression.

“Oh, and Chat?”

“Yes?”

“I-A friend of mine, Adrien, he lives here too, I-I mean technically speaking this is his house and I’m just here because of an internship and-and anyway!”

She took a deep breath and Chat chuckled and now she was _definitely_ blushing.

“He-Adrien told me sometimes goes on evening strolls and stuff like that and-and if you ever see him run around outside at night – can you make sure he stays safe? He’s a good friend of mine and I don’t want anything bad to happen to him...”

She looked up at him from hopefully eyes and he felt himself tear up, as warmth spread through his entire being.

“Of course, Purincess. Anything for you. And-I’m sure Adrien is glad to have a friend as caring as you are.”

**.o.O.o.**

Master Fu had always believed himself to be a flawed human. He had caused the guardian’s temple’s ruin by being an insubordinate child, had watched as Europe sunk into a war and had stood by as so many countries on this world suffered the unimaginable.

He was deeply flawed. He was easily scared, too cautious at times. He preferred to patiently wait for an opportunity instead of crafting one himself – and yet, he rarely ever regretted his decisions. He knew people may suffer, but if he made another mistake too big to be easily retracted, even more could and he couldn’t risk that.

And yet, when he stood in front of his old massage parlor, he couldn’t help but wonder whether he had made a wrong move this time. When he had watched the Akuma’s broadcast and had felt that tugging at his mind, he had known he had to leave. The next day, he had seen the robots and his decision had been made – he couldn’t stay in Paris. He couldn’t risk the Miraculous box.

But...Plagg might have been able to find him, had he stayed. Maybe, if he had gotten to Marinette first he could have reminded her of having been Ladybug _somehow_. But he hadn’t and know he was faced with an empty room in a shop run by a couple too cheerful for their circumstances.

“Our daughter? Oh, she’s still on that internship of hers – hasn’t visited home in _months_ , can you imagine?”

Monsieur Dupain laughed heartily, putting another batch of croissants in the display.

“Don’t you agree, ma cherie?”

He gave his wife a quick peck on the forehead, before twirling away and putting the now empty plate into the dishwasher. Sabine blushed slightly, before shaking her head at her husband’s antics, a warm smile adorning her face.

“Oh, yes, she is busy – but she did say she’d like to visit this weekend – oh, do you think she had been eating enough?”

Her brow creased a little and she moved to the other side of the counter, to take out two slices of cake, serving another customer.

“We’ll have to make sure to have enough Macarons left over, you know how much she loves them...oh and, may I ask, but how do you know her anyway?”

Sabine turned to Master Fu now, her smile was barely concealing a threat. Fu, in turn, shuffled uncomfortably. Well, he supposed her concern was normal.

“I happened to run into her on her way to school sometimes – I was wondering whether something had happened to her...”

“Happened? Oh, no, she doing perfectly fine! In fact, she’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her!”

Master Fu nodded along, lowering his gaze to examine the many pastries that were offered. They did look delicious, no wonder Tikki had been so overjoyed when she told him about her newest charge.

“I am glad. But...won’t her schoolwork suffer?”

He hoped he sounded innocent – he could not afford to raise their suspicions.

“And I’d like those eclairs, please.”

Madame Cheng nodded along, carefully taking the pastries out of the display and putting them into a box.

“I don’t worry at all. She's a clever girl and didn’t she say she had that nice boy, what was his name again?”

“Adrien!”, Tom answered from the kitchen and Sabine nodded.

“Yes, that was it. Anyway, he's helping her with her schoolwork and all that. Maybe it isn’t all that bad she’s staying at the Agreste Mansion at all. Her teachers said she has only gotten better!”

Sabine beamed proudly and Master Fu perked up. Agreste Mansion?

“Agreste? As in Gabriel Agreste?”

As in the only person they had ever considered to be Hawkmoth?

“Yes. He’s some big shot designer. Marinette kept gushing about him!”

Sabine walked to the other side of the counter and Master Fu followed her, deep in thought.

“Huh. I do wonder why she didn’t tell me. She's usually such an excited girl...”

Master Fu’s brows furrowed. He did wonder indeed. Why hadn’t Marinette told him she was taking on an internship? Well, perhaps she hadn’t though it to be important or…

“Oh, it was quite a spontaneous offer! Mister Agreste asked her to intern her one day and the next she was off already – but, apparently, he had it all worked out with the school administration already. You should have seen her, she was over the moon!”

Sabine typed in a few numbers, before pressing enter and showing him his total.

“Well, that should be it...Your total is 20.97€ please.”

She politely smiled at him and he paid, accepting the bag that was offered to him.

“Thank you for your purchase – and have a nice day!”

“You too, Madame Cheng. And do greet your daughter for me, will you?”

x

It was getting late – or rather close to the curfew – and Master Fu found himself looking at empty rooftops, his expression a mix between soft caring and light disappointment.

“Oh no! Yo’ve lost her, master”, Wayyz murmured, his ears drooping as he, too, tried to catch a glimpse of the infamous Chat Noir.

And they had lost her indeed. After learning from Marinette’s parents that she was going to visit soon, Master Fu had risked staying in Paris for a longer time, be it to just catch her once she inevitably returned back to the Agreste Mansion.

But Master Fu had failed to plan for her to almost sprint back. Nor had he expected her to hide out in a small alleyway, shielded from all view.

Master Fu thought of today as a triumph though.

“We did. But we’ve learned a great deal, too, haven’t we?”

He was smiling, as he remembered seeing her converse with a healthy Chat Noir in a manner that suggested this wasn’t the first time. Master Fu had called out to them at that moment, but had simply startled both of them. Which lead to Chat Noir hugging Marinette tightly to his chest before taking off, clearly afraid someone might tell on her.

It had made Master Fu smile.

No matter what they remembered – Chat Noir and Ladybug would always find back to each other and if that was the only hope he'd have, Master Fu would still happily bet his life on them winning this battle too.

“We have?”

“Of course.”

He turned away from the scene, slowly walking towards his own apartment.

“We finally know who Hawkmoth is, after all.”

And with that, his expression turned grim.

Gabriel Agreste. He had had the grimoire. The man who had lived as a reclusive ever since his wife had vanished.

The man who had offered Marinette Duapin-Cheng an internship not a day after she had been revealed to be Ladybug, to none other than Hawkmoth himself.

It had to be more than just a coincidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Empress Cesia Wears Knickerbockers” is a manga which I have never read and of which I have only read a short synopsis. But it’s about fashion, which was kind of important to me, and was one of the first to turn up on that topic. I sincerely hope there’s nothing too bad in there. 
> 
> Anyhow, moving on to the real final note: This chapter is rather short, as you may have noticed. The reason being none other than that I really liked where it left of after the last scene, but I couldn’t move that scene to a different place either – I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless. Even if it is still lacking the promised Adrinette scene. I hope some MariChat fluff will make up for that and now, at the very least, I can guarantee that the Adrinette scene will be in the next chapter! Yay?
> 
> Anyhow – that’s chapter six for you guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts and read you later!
> 
> Bluestpaw

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there and welcome to my story! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter - this is crossposted on fanficiton.net (under the name "You must remember" though) and I will add the other two chapters that I have already written over here soon too (probably once I finally finished the fourth one).
> 
> As you may have seen from the tags, this fanfiction will dabble in Adrinette first, before it is joined by some Marichat, followed by general love-square shenanigans/past-reveal relations. My estimate so far is that it will take 25 chapters to get to the end, however that estimate will be subjected to change.
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the story so far. If you (or didn't), I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! I'd be really grateful if you could leave a comment in the comment section and I hope you'R elooking forward to the next chapter.
> 
> Read you later  
> Bluestpaw  
> 


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